Witches Aren't Always Invincible
by 11nagrom
Summary: When Paige arrives home in the middle of the night covered in bruises, Phoebe could have never anticipated what she was about to find out. Multichapter.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Charmed- Hopefully you will enjoy this fic. I won't mind if you don't, it's not to everyone's taste. Warning- There will be mentions of rape in this fic but nothing too graphic or disturbing. But don't let the summary put you off; you may find you like it if you read it. **

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><p>It was three a.m and Phoebe's younger sister Paige was yet to return. Piper, Leo and the boys were staying at Leo's father in law for the night and for Phoebe, the Halliwell Manor was the quietest it had ever been.<p>

Phoebe was sleepily walking through the hallway with a glass of water when she saw a set of bright blue orbs fly past her and hover on the stairs before falling with a loud bang.

Paige lay there in the middle of the staircase shaking. She could clearly be heard crying and she had cuts and bruises all over her bare arms.

As soon as Phoebe saw, she ran to her sister.

"Oh my god, Paige what happened to you?" She leaned down and touched her sister gently on the shoulder. Paige didn't move but just lay there sobbing.

"Sweetheart, please. Just talk to me." Phoebe said a little desperately. Paige sat up slowly, wincing at the pain. She sat with her back to the wall and pushed her hair out of her face. Phoebe was kneeling on the step looking at her with concern.

Phoebe picked up the last stray strand of Paige's hair and put it behind her ear, making a bruised eye clearly visible.

"Paige, who did this to you?" Phoebe said, tears in her voice.

Paige's face just crumpled.

"Oh baby." Phoebe said. She leaned forwards and wrapped her arms around her younger sister. Surprisingly Paige clung to her tightly and rested her head on her shoulder. This surprised Phoebe as Paige had never been much a fan of close contact.

They stayed in that position for what felt like hours, though it had probably just been a few minutes.

Phoebe slowly pulled away and rested both of her hands on Paige's cheeks. "You- can't be that comfortable here, why don't we try and get you into a bed? Then we can decide what to do next. Okay?"

Paige nodded through tears.

"Now, sweetie can you orb?"

Paige shook her head. "Too weak." She said between sobs.

"We really should get you to a hospital."

"No." She said clearly, shaking her head excessively.

"Are you sure? You're beaten up pretty bad." She said looking up and down the length of her sister's bruised body.

"I'm sure." She said, looking at her straight in the eye.

Phoebe hated seeing her sister like this; it gave her a chilling flashback from when she had accidentally beaten up Paige while being tricked by The Demon of Fear. Paige's current state strongly reminded her of that. But she knew that it wouldn't help if she had her own personal crisis right now. She needed to be strong for her sister.

"Okay. Why don't I put my arm around you, help you get up and then maybe, together we could try and walk to your bedroom." Phoebe said, looking into her sister's glassy eyes.

Paige nodded.

"Okay, I'm just going to put my arm around you and place it on your hip." She said while doing so. She felt that with her sister feeling so vulnerable and fragile that she should voice what she was doing to make her feel more at ease.

She pulled herself and Paige up slowly.

Paige's face grimaced in pain. "Ah-Ow." She stuttered.

"Just be strong for a minute sweetheart. If we just get you into your bedroom then you can lie down and maybe it will hurt a little less."

Paige nodded and cried out occasionally as she went up the stairs with her sister.

Once they reached the landing, she couldn't take it anymore. Tears were rolling down her cheeks from a combination of the flashbacks _and _the pain she was currently facing.

"Let me down." Paige said, weakly trying to push her sisters' arm away.

"No, just a few more steps." Phoebe tried to continue with them but with Paige's crying and the obvious pain she was in, she just couldn't continue.

"Okay, let's sit down here for a while. Then maybe when you're hurting a little less we can try and get into _a _bedroom. It doesn't matter whose." Phoebe bent down and gently lowered Paige down with her. Phoebe had her back against the wall with her legs spread out and Paige sat down between them so that she was resting her back against Phoebe. Phoebe loosely wrapped her arms around Paige's stomach in case not to hurt her and Paige leaned her head back, resting it on Phoebe's shoulder.

The sat there, resting for a moment before Phoebe spoke.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" Phoebe said to her softly.

Paige's face crumpled again and tears began to fall.

"Why are you so sad? Are you hurting? Or is there something more than that?"

Paige didn't respond, she just gazed at some family portraits through the hallway's dim lighting. She looked at a picture of Prue, Piper and Phoebe from when they had been teenagers. She looked at Phoebe's rebellious expression, at Piper's goofy smile and she noticed warmth in Prue's eyes. She'd never met Prue but she always thought that despite her hard shell, Prue looked as if she was very soft and welcoming under the surface. She wished she could have found out. Well, for herself.

"Paige, please talk to me. You can trust me."

Paige was suddenly disbanded from her thoughts and she twisted her head to look at Phoebe. Phoebe had a tear on her cheek and she looked almost as upset as Paige felt.

"Do you miss her?" Paige asked quietly.

"Who?" Phoebe replied.

"Prue."

"Yes, of course. Why?"

"I don't know. I just sometimes wish I had met her."

"She was like you, you know, brave and feisty." Phoebe smiled at the resemblance she'd never noticed before.

Paige gave a small smile, as much as she could muster with how she was feeling. She suddenly felt very tired and her eyes fluttered closed. She opened them a couple of times but she was too tired to battle with her eyelids.

Phoebe noticed that her sister's breathing had evened out and looked down to see that she was sleeping. She considered, at that point, maybe trying to lift Paige up and carry her into a bedroom but she dismissed the thought as it would probably cause unnecessary pain for Paige and probably wake her up anyway. So she decided to just leave them where they were. She kissed Paige's cheek softly before closing her own eyes and falling into a deep sleep.

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><p>It had been a few hours since the youngest of the Halliwell's had fallen asleep when Phoebe woke up in shock to Paige screaming. Paige's body was shaking side to side and she had tears running down her cheeks.<p>

"Please stop!" Paige cried out, desperation in her voice. "Get off me!"

Phoebe didn't know what to do.

"Why me?" Paige sobbed, her voice quieter now.

Phoebe began to shake Paige's shoulders gently. "Paige, sweetheart. You need to wake up. You're having a bad dream, it's not real. Come on, wake up." She said soothingly.

Paige's eyes opened slowly before she squeezed them shut, letting tears run down her cheeks. Her breathing intensified and she cried hysterically.

"It's okay. It's me, you're safe." Phoebe said softly. She slowly wrapped her arms around Paige, seeking confirmation. Paige turned her head and looked at Phoebe's large brown eyes before slowly sinking back against her chest and wrapping her arms back around herself.

"Paige, I'm going to ask you one question and I want you to answer this honestly."

Paige nodded without turning back.

"Paige. Did the person that did this to you- well, -Paige did he rape you?" She said difficultly. Even the thought of it horrified her. Paige was a fully grown woman, but she was still her baby sister.

Paige bit her lip and nodded. More tears rolled out of her eyes yet she didn't make a noise.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: *Warning- some bad language.*

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><p><em>"Paige. Did the person that did this to you- well, -Paige did he rape you?" She said difficultly. Even the thought of it horrified her. Paige was a fully grown woman, but she was still her baby sister.<em>

_Paige bit her lip and nodded. More tears rolled out of her eyes yet she didn't make a noise._****

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><p>"Oh, oh my god. Paige, we need to get you to a hospital."<p>

"No." She cried, shaking her head again.

"Paige you could be seriously hurt."

"I'm not. I can move my arms and legs. I'm fine."

"No you're not." Phoebe said louder, tears in her eyes. This was the first time Paige turned around and had looked at her sister since she had told her. Phoebe's face looked almost as upset as her own did. She also looked worried and there was something else. Paige studied her face for a moment longer. Her sister looked scared.

"Stop worrying about me, I'm pathetic. I let this happen to me. It was my fault." She said, facing forward again.

Phoebe's face became more serious. "Don't you dare say that Paige. None of this is your fault. Something horrific happened to you. You are not pathetic." She said sternly.

Paige turned and looked at her sister's serious expression. "I love you." She said quietly.

"I know. And I love you too." Phoebe said, her face softening. "Why don't we try and get you into bed. We could call a doctor to come here and see what they say? I can make sure it's a woman and I'll leave the room when she comes." Phoebe said, pleading slightly.

"I don't want anybody else here."

"Why not, they just want to help you."

"I just don't want anyone else to touch me. I need people that I trust with me. Not strangers."

Phoebe sighed. "You might be doing more harm to yourself by not getting checked over. And- what about… a rape kit?" Phoebe said uncomfortably.

"I don't want one." Paige said grumpily.

"Don't you want to catch who did this?"

"Yes. But then we'll all have to relive it, over and over again. There'll be a trial… and I'll have to see them again-."

"Wait. Stop. Did you say _them_?" Phoebe asked worriedly.

"Yes. There were two of them."

"Oh Paige." Phoebe cried. "That's so, so awful. I'm so sorry I wasn't there to help you- or stop them. I should have done something, I should have known." Phoebe stuttered to herself.

Paige turned her head around and looked at Phoebe. "Stop it, you couldn't have done anything to help and you're helping me now. You've been amazing. You slept in the hallway for god's sake." She said, wiping a tear from Phoebe's face.

Phoebe nodded. She couldn't really stretch to a smile. She still had a horrible lingering feeling that there could have been something she could have done to stop what had happened. "Oh god, we need to call Piper. We need to tell her what happened."

"No!" Paige said loudly."

"What?" Phoebe said with her eyes wide.

"I don't want you to tell her. I don't want her to know yet."

"What are you talking about? She has to know. You're her sister. Anyway how would she not find out? You're black and blue Paige. And you can't even walk without crying out and nearly collapsing from the pain."

"I just don't want her to know okay. I'll cast a spell. Cover the bruises up."

"That's insane! Why?"

"I just don't want her to think I'm weak. We've never really gotten on that well but we've been quite close lately and I just don't this to mess it all up. I've been through enough as it is."

"Paige that's crazy. She wouldn't think you were weak. This could have happened to any of us. Would you have liked it if she had kept the same thing from you? Not told you that she was in immense pain from the assault of two men?"

"It's not the same."

"It is. It's exactly the same. Would you have wanted to be there for her? Take care of her, catch the bastards who did it?"

Paige nodded and hung her head with defeat. "Fine. But on my terms and I'm not going to tell her the second she gets back. Also I _am _casting the spell."

"Fine. As long as she knows soon. Also Paige, I was thinking… would it really hurt to get mom? Maybe ask for her help?"

"No, don't." Paige cried. "I want her here, I really do but I just can't face her. They watch us up there all the time. She might have _seen it _Phoebe. It's disgusting."

"But if you want her here, shouldn't we focus on that?"

"Maybe later, okay?" Paige replied.

Phoebe nodded. "Okay. C'mon let's get you up." Phoebe stood up slowly then took Paige's arms and helped her up carefully. Paige winced as she stood. Once she was standing, Phoebe walked to her side and wrapped her arm around her waist in the same place as before.

"Okay it's just a few steps, try your best to just breathe and think about how nice it will be once you're in there." She said as they took the first couple of steps.

"Wait. I want a bath."

"Okay. But you need to be sure about the rape kit because the bath may wash away evidence."

"No. I'm sure. I feel dirty. I need to have a bath."

"Okay. Let's go towards the bathroom then, it's a little further but I think you can manage it."

Paige nodded and swallowed the pain as she walked.

Once they reached the bathroom, Paige closed the lid, sat down on top of the toilet seat and Phoebe put the bath on.

"I'm going to go and get some pain relief medication for you; I'll get the strongest one I can find that doesn't make you feel drowsy."

Paige nodded and Phoebe went out of the bathroom door. It felt weird to feel this way but Paige longed for her sister to be back the second she had left. This is the first time she had been alone since she had got back and she felt like she needed Phoebe to be there to keep things together. To keep _her _together.

She sat there thinking about what she could say to Piper later. She honestly had no idea. It had been easier with Phoebe. Phoebe had sussed it out and even said the slimy word for her. Paige had found that _rape _was hardest word to say. It was like a large lump in her throat.

Meanwhile Phoebe was downstairs in the kitchen rooting through cupboards. She had been getting more and more frustrated as she went on. She was looking for a specific type of pain relief and she couldn't find it among the many others that seemed to be for every other injury that ever existed.

Things were falling out of the cupboard and crashing down on the counter and she was getting angry. She suddenly banged her fist against the countertop hard. "Argh!" She shouted.

She suddenly stopped and realised that she wasn't angry about the pain relief. She was angry about what had happened.

Phoebe looked up, banged her fist on the counter again and shouted. "For fucks sake! She's my little sister!" She screamed at the elders. "One of my sisters already died and so did my mother remember? Do you actually remember? Did you actually even care? And now this. You could have stopped this. You have the power to stop time for fucks sake and you let this happen to her. But no, you couldn't just let them beat her up. You had to let them fucking rape her as well. You watched and YOU DID NOTHING. I am done with all of you. You've done nothing but destroy this family and we are helping you no longer. You don't get to get away with this!" She screamed, tears in her eyes.

Just then, with the stress, Phoebe's legs gave way and she was caught by someone's arms just in time. Her mother lowered them both to the kitchen floor, wrapped her arms tight around her daughter and held her close.

Phoebe cried in her arms. "Mom you need to be with her. Please leave me alone."

"I know, but this has hit you hard too. You've lost a lot Phoebe. I am here for you as well. Now let me find this medication. You go up to her. She needs you." Patty said to her daughter.

Phoebe nodded, wiped her eyes and ran up the stairs.

She opened the bathroom door and let out a small gasp. She didn't know what to say. She hadn't seen her sister in the proper light and with the morning daylight, the extent of her bruises was now a lot clearer.

"What?" Paige said, feeling self conscious.

"You're just hurt pretty bad honey." Phoebe said sadly.

"I heard what you said- downstairs… I heard what you shouted." She replied.

"Oh Paige I'm sorry. I just had a lot of built up anger, I needed to shout at them. And not just for this, for everything."

"It's okay." Paige simply replied.

"I've never shouted at them like that before. Hating the elders was always Piper's thing because of all the crap they pulled with Leo."

Paige nodded.

"I think the bath is nearly ready." Phoebe said while turning the hot tap off and turning the cold one on briefly.

"Is mom here?" Paige asked.

"Yeah. You are a good listener aren't you?" Phoebe gave her a small smile. "She's just finding some medication you can have.

Just then, there was a light tap on the door before the Matriarch of the family entered the bathroom. She was carrying the pain relief, a glass of water and a small potion bottle with a golden liquid inside.

"Hey sweetheart." Patty said to Paige. Phoebe took the objects from her and placed them on the floor in the bathroom where she was kneeling.

Patty walked towards Paige and knelt down in front of where she was sitting. "I heard what you said last night when you two slept in the hall and I want to say that I am here for you. We both are." She nodded at Phoebe before turning her head back to Paige. "I'm so proud of you. You've been so brave Paige. And I can't believe this has happened to one of my own." She leaned forward and enclosed Paige in a warm hug. Paige held her tightly and breathed in the sweet smelling scent of her mother's clothes.

"I love you mom." Paige said meaningfully.

"I love you too. And what's this about not telling Piper?"

Paige stiffened slightly. "I don't know, I just think I'm entitled to my own secrets."

"Well of course you are honey but she's your sister and this is more than just a secret, Paige."

"I know. I just can't think of how to tell her." She said sadly. Phoebe was sat with her legs crossed on the bathroom floor listening. These were not places she would normally sit but everything had been shaken up lately so it didn't seem to matter.

"Well I think what's important now is that you have a nice hot bath and this medicine." Patty stood up, stroking Paige's hair lightly as she did so. "Oh and I almost forgot. I made you a small potion, it should help with the healing process, speed it up a bit. You should have one of these every morning and evening until you're feeling better. I wrote the ingredients that you need to make it in the Book, so maybe Phoebe could make it for you tomorrow?" She turned to Phoebe who then nodded.

"You're not staying?" Paige asked sadly.

"I'm afraid I can't. I'm not supposed to be here. I had to fight to be allowed even this precious time. I'm sorry I can't be here for you, for both of you." She said, looking sadly between their faces. "Now I think you'll be okay for the next few hours. You've got everything you'll need here and I'll come on check on you at tea time but I really must go, or I don't think I'll be able to come back again."

Paige nodded and Patty leaned forward to give her one last tight hug.

"Phoebe come here sweetie." Patty said to her daughter. Phoebe walked forwards and Patty opened her arms embracing Phoebe into the hug too.

"I love you mom." Phoebe said into her hair.

"I love you too Phoebe. Now I want you to take good care of Paige, just like you have been and I'll see you tonight." She said, giving Phoebe a soft kiss on the cheek.

"I'm going to give you two a couple of minutes alone before you go. I'll be back in a bit Paige." Phoebe said while pulling away and leaving the bathroom.

Once Phoebe was gone, Patty Halliwell bent down and knelt in front of her youngest daughter. She held Paige's hands in hers and looked deep into her sad eyes. "I can't believe this happened to my baby. You're my baby girl Paige." She said with tears in her eyes.

"Mom, I'm nearly thirty." Paige said with a small smile.

"Yes but you're still my baby. Now I want you to look after yourself. Don't push yourself and don't doubt yourself either. You do both of those things way too often if you ask me missy."

"I wish you could stay." Paige said quietly.

"I wish I could too. It devastates me that I can't. I just want to wrap you up warm and cuddle you until everything's better. But that wouldn't work anyway." Patty said sadly, stroking her daughter's bruised wrists. "But most of all Paige, I just want your pain to go away, in every form." Patty said, a tear rolling down her cheek.

Paige looked at her sadly, a couple of tears spilling over her eyelashes.

"I love you so much." Patty said honestly.

"I know mom. I love you too. Thank you for coming today, it really helped."

"Oh it was nothing." Patty smiled.

"No really. Most parents wouldn't come back from the dead for their daughters."

"Well _most _parents don't have daughters like you three." She said with a kiss on Paige's cheek. "I'll see you later darling."


	3. Chapter 3

A few hours had passed and Phoebe was sleeping in Paige's bed. Paige sighed to herself. Earlier, after Paige's bath; Phoebe had insisted that they sat and chatted. As Paige knew the conversation would probably lead to when, where and who about the previous night, she was very thankful that Phoebe had fallen asleep pretty much the moment her head had hit the pillow.

Paige sat on the bed next to her wondering what to do. She couldn't particularly walk anywhere without excruciating pain from multiple places of her body and she definitely couldn't make it downstairs. She looked to her left and picked up a small mirror from the bedside table. She stared at her bruised eye and cut lip. She could also see a bruise on the side of her neck from the bottom of the mirror. She couldn't look at them anymore. Each cut or bruise she saw gave her a vivid flashback of how she got it.

Paige sighed again into the mirror before whispering. "Let the object of objection become but a dream as I cause the seen to be unseen."

"Paige." Phoebe groaned sleepily. "Piper's still going to find out and what's the point? You can still feel the pain of your injuries, just no one else can see them." Phoebe opened her eyes and looked at Paige who was now looking in the mirror at her newly cleared skin. She lifted her hand up and tapped lightly where the dark purple bruise had been and winced. She could still feel the pain even though she couldn't see the bruises.

"It's not just about Piper. I couldn't stand to look at them any longer."

"Well I think you're making a mistake hiding this from her. Why are you? You never probably explained."

"It's complicated, it's just we never got on that well and I guess I just don't want her to see me differently."

"Differently how?"

"She'll look at me and she'll just see what happened to me. She'll just see the little sister that got… -raped." She struggled to say.

"Of course she won't. Maybe she will for the next couple of weeks but we all will Paige. It happened to you and it's horrific and we can't just ignore it, especially when you're hurt so badly too. But maybe in a few weeks you might be doing better and we will have caught the bastards who did this and this will all be over. You're still Paige in there." She tapped Paige's forehead gently. "And we still love you. You're still extremely sarcastic, very quirky and loveable. What happened does not define you under any circumstances. So don't think that it will." Phoebe said honestly.

Paige looked at Phoebe and took in her words.

"Things are going to be rough for the next few weeks, real rough. But your injuries will heal and maybe you'll feel more emotionally stable in a few weeks. Maybe months. But we'll be here for you, every step of the way. Me, Piper _and _Mom." Phoebe said while leaning over and kissing her on the forehead when she had finished.

"Thank you." Paige said simply.

"Anytime." Phoebe replied. "Now lie down. Why don't you try and get some rest."

Paige nodded and lay down on her bed next to her. "Phoebe- Can I like sleep close to you? I just don't feel that safe- and-"

"Sure. Come here." She said outstretching her arm. Paige moved up so she was lying right next to Phoebe, their sides were nearly touching. Paige rested her head on Phoebe's arm before changing her mind and rolling onto her side, resting her head on top of Phoebe's collar bone, her forehead just touching her warm neck. Phoebe smiled and wrapped her arm around her baby sister. Pulling her close.

"I love you Paige and you're safe here. Sleep tight."

Paige didn't have to reply as she had already fallen asleep.

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><p>It was 5'o'clock when Piper got home. Leo had orbed himself, Wyatt and Chris to The New York Zoo on Wyatt's request but Piper hadn't joined them as she wanted to get home. In the two days she had been gone, she hadn't received a single text or call from either of her sisters. This usually meant there was something wrong or they were up to something.<p>

Piper put her bags down, took her coat off and stepped further into the hall and just listened for a second. She heard nothing.

'_That's odd._' She said to herself. "Phoebe? Paige?" She shouted into the house. With no response she went into the kitchen which looked relatively tidy and unused. She went back into the hall and jogged up the stairs. "Phoebes? Paige?" She said again. There was still no response and she began to feel nervous until she noticed a light on coming through Paige's slightly ajar door.

She opened it slowly and she saw Phoebe and Paige cuddled up close with a blanket over themselves on Paige's bed.

"Phoebe?" She said with a confused expression. This was weird. They were close sisters but not _this _close.

Phoebe opened her eyes and winced at the harsh light. "Piper? What time is it?" She asked her older sister in the doorway.

"It's five. What you doing there?" She smiled.

Phoebe smiled and turned her head to look at Paige who was still lying on her shoulder. Paige's arm was wrapped around Phoebe's stomach and Phoebe's other hand was resting on Paige's wrist.

"You two look very cosy." Piper raised her eyebrows.

"We fell asleep and I guess we cuddled up." Phoebe smiled. _It wasn't exactly a lie. _She thought to herself.

"Oh." Piper smiled. "Well I'm going to go and make dinner." She said a little awkwardly.

"Okay." Phoebe nodded.

"Okay." Piper replied, leaving the room. _That was weirder. _She thought to herself once she had reached the hall. She sighed and walked down the stairs.

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><p>Phoebe stared at the ceiling for a few minutes before remembering that she needed to make the healing potions for Paige.<p>

She looked down at the sleeping woman. She seemed to be sleeping restfully for the first time since she'd gotten home the night before.

Phoebe argued with herself internally. _I need to make the potions but she's so peaceful. If I move she might wake up. _She sighed and awkwardly shuffled slightly.

"I can hear you thinking…" Paige muttered opening her eyes.

Phoebe's brow furrowed. "What?"

"Just go and do what you want to do. I'm fine, I'll just go back to sleep." Paige murmured, closing her eyes again.

"Okay. Piper's back by the way." Phoebe said, getting up.

Paige's eyes shot open. "What?" She said worriedly.

"Yeah she got back like ten minutes ago. She's downstairs making dinner."

"Did you tell her?"

"No. But I don't like this. It feels horrible not telling her. Just try your best to tell her because if you keep it a secret I think it's just going to eat you alive. You need to channel your emotions, not bury them."

"Fine. _Empath._" Paige growled from the bed, rolling over.

Phoebe stood in the doorway watching her sister sleep.

"Go away. I can hear you thinking again." Paige muttered with her eyes closed.

"I'm going. I'm just worried about you. You can still barely walk and you still need to go to a hospital. You might have _tears _down there… or internal bleeding and you probably have a broken rib. I saw the bruise on it when you were getting changed. Just because we now can't see the injuries you have, doesn't mean they're not there. You can't ignore them."

Paige lay in silence, not replying.

"Paige, Listen to me!" Phoebe shouted with a frustrated tone. She walked across the room to the side of the bed where Paige was facing. Her eyes dropped to Paige who had tears in her eyes.

Phoebe's face softened. "Honey I'm sorry. I'm just worried." She stroked Paige's hair gently. "And especially with that spell, we don't even know if you're getting worse or better. I'm scared sweetie." She said sadly.

Paige looked at her with glassy eyes. "I know. But this is just for tonight. Just 'til I can work out what to say to Piper."

"Just tell her what happened." Phoebe said with a shaky voice.

"But Phoebe I haven't even told you properly what happened. It makes me feel so disgusting that I just want to scrub at my skin when I even think about it. Let alone say it."

Phoebe's eyes had tears in them. "Just tell her the briefest version you could possibly think of, as long as it includes the key part." Phoebe said with a wobbly voice.

Paige nodded and wiped a couple of tears from her cheeks. "I think I'm just going to go back to sleep now." She said quietly.

"Okay sweetheart, I'm going to go and make some of those healing potions mom was talking about. She's coming back tonight I think. We can see her again. Maybe we'll have dinner together, with Piper too. Yeah?" She asked.

Paige nodded and closed her eyes. Phoebe leaned down and gave her a kiss on the forehead before leaving the bedroom and closing the door. She walked down the hall and up the staircase into the attic.

Phoebe opened the Book of Shadows to the newest page and found what her mother had written earlier that day. She wondered around the room gathering up ingredients. She sniffed and wiped her nose and eyes with the back of her hand.

A gathering of white lights appeared in front of her and her mother appeared. "Need a hand." She said softly.

Phoebe nodded, walked closer to her mother and hugged her tightly. Patty wrapped her arms tightly around her daughter and Phoebe began to cry on her shoulder.

"It's okay sweetie. You're doing a really great job looking after her."

Phoebe pulled away and nodded. She sniffed again and continued gathering up ingredients from around the attic. Patty joined her and soon they had eight bottles of the same yellow liquid that Patty had made early that morning.

"This should be enough to keep her going for now. You need to keep giving her the pain relief as well though. She won't be saying how much pain she's really in. Paige is tough and she doesn't like asking for help, remember that." Patty gave her daughter a weak smile.

"Trust me I know. I'm having hell with her about going to the hospital. She won't do it."

"Well did she say why?" Patty asked curiously.

"Yes, she said she doesn't want people touching her or hurting her which is understandable to be honest." Phoebe sighed. "I still think she should go though."

"I know Phoebe, but she gets to make her own decisions and we can't force her to do anything. Especially not now." Patty said to her daughter.

"Mom can I ask you a question?"

"Yes of course."

"Why- aren't you sad about this? –Like you just don't seem upset at all considering what just happened."

"Oh trust me honey, I'm devastated, devastated and so furious. I just think that I crying is not going to make either of you feel any better or give Paige the support she needs. I've spent hours crying sweetheart but I am trying my best to hold it together, for her and for all of you." She said with a slightly shaky voice.

Phoebe nodded and hugged her mother again. "Mom, does Grams know?"

"Yes. And Prue. They're both distraught but they're being very supportive to me."

"Wait, did you say _Prue_?"

"Yes dear."

"…-How is she." Phoebe said nervously.

"She's well. She misses you and Piper very, very much though. And she's sad and very angry about what happened to Paige."

"But she's never met Paige." Phoebe replied into her shoulder.

Patty pulled Phoebe away at arms length so that she could look at her properly. "She's been watching over you two since pretty much the day she died and then you and Piper found Paige and she was unsure of her at first, just like you and Piper were but now I think she loves her just as much as you do Phoebe."

"She must have been pretty pissed when she found out about what happened…." Phoebe replied.

"Phoebe, _pissed _is an understatement." Patty sighed.

"I can only imagine." Phoebe replied.

"Now I need to go downstairs and check on Paige. How has she been feeling today? Since I left?"

"Well, she had her bath and then we both put on our pyjamas and just fell asleep in her bed, she's been really upset for most of the day but she slept peacefully, there were no nightmares this time." Phoebe replied sadly. It upset her that a current actual achievement was that her younger sister had not had anymore rape nightmares for the past few hours.

Phoebe looked down at the vials. "Oh and Piper's back. What are you going to say to her?" She asked.

"Oh don't worry honey, I'll tell her I'm just visiting you girls. Paige needs to tell her when she's ready."

"I know. I'm gonna go downstairs and try and get more medicine for Paige without Piper noticing. I don't know how long I can keep this whole thing to myself though." Phoebe said sadly.

"I know sweetie, just try your best. We need to wait until Paige is ready."

Phoebe nodded before going down the attic stairs with her mother behind her. Once they'd reached the landing, Patty went into Paige's room and Phoebe continued down the staircase. She walked into the kitchen and was met with Piper putting something in the oven.

"Hey, why are you still in your pyjamas! Its dinnertime, did you not get dressed today?" Piper asked with a friendly smile.

"No, we decided to have a day in the house so neither of us bothered."

"Oh." Piper smiled. She moved closer to her sister and examined her face. "Phoebe, you look exhausted. Did you not sleep last night?" Piper asked worriedly.

Phoebe bit her lip. She so badly wanted to just tell the truth about her night but it wasn't her decision to make. "I just couldn't sleep." She lied sadly.

"Is something bothering you?" Piper asked while briefly putting her palm on Phoebe's forehead to check for a temperature.

Phoebe shrugged before turning around and opening the cupboard. Piper turned around to stir something in a pan. Phoebe found the medicine she was looking for quickly, picked up a glass and slipped out of the kitchen.

Piper turned around and groaned at the fact that her sister had gone. "Phoebe!" She yelled after her.

Phoebe stopped on the step she was on for a brief moment but then carried on running up the stairs. She went into the bathroom, filled the glass with water and headed into Paige's room.


	4. Chapter 4

After helping her get down the stairs, Phoebe and Paige were sat at the dining table and Patty was in the kitchen talking to Piper.

Piper came out of the kitchen with Patty with a big smile on her face. Patty was telling her a story about when she was younger. Piper placed a large dish of Pasta Bake into the centre of the table.

"Paige, could you come and get some glasses please?" Piper asked with a friendly smile.

Paige looked awkwardly at Phoebe. She couldn't walk without excruciating pain and she didn't want to have to tell Piper just yet.

"I'll do it." Phoebe stood up, biting her lip again.

Once they came back in carrying glasses and a bottle of wine, Piper spoke again.

"Okay then, Paige could you give me a hand bringing in the salad?" Paige shifted uneasily in her seat.

Patty stood up. "Let me, Piper." She walked into the kitchen.

Piper started to walk and then turned back, walking towards Paige. "Sweetie are you okay? You don't look so well." She placed her hand on Paige's forehead. Paige looked at Phoebe uncomfortably. "Oh honey, you're burning up, let me get you an aspirin."

"No." Paige replied a little too loudly. Paige knew she'd already had the maximum dose she could have of pair relief for the next four hours. Any more would probably make her collapse and overdose.

"Why not?"

"I-I just don't want any." She said uncomfortably.

"You're acting weird. All of you are." She said to them all as Patty came through the doorway. "What's going on?"

Phoebe bit her lip again.

Piper turned to them all in turn. "You look you like you've just killed someone." She said to Phoebe. "You haven't been here in over a year and you only come down here when something's wrong." She said to her mother who guiltily looked down at the table. "And you-" She pointed at Paige. "You've slept for what seems like the majority of the day and you look like you're at death's door. Will somebody please tell me what's going on here?" She said frustratedly.

With no response from anyone and an awkward silence, Piper began to serve up four plates of pasta. They then sat in silence for over five minutes mainly just scraping at their dishes.

Phoebe stared at Paige sadly and Paige silently ate her pasta, occasionally glancing back at her.

"Stop staring at me." Paige muttered quietly to Phoebe.

Phoebe looked down at her food. Suddenly she wasn't so hungry anymore. She looked back up at Paige and remembered where all of her bruises and cuts were. She remembered the purple rim just below Paige's eye where she'd obviously been punched, she remembered the bust lip she had, the bruised scratch on her neck, her knuckles that were cut and bruised from when she'd obviously tried to fight back. She remembered the large bruise on her sister's ribs and her sister's thighs that were also cut and bruised. The men who did this obviously had no mercy.

Rather understandably, Paige had not let Phoebe or her mother go anywhere near her private area. But Phoebe worried that she was a hurting a lot there too but was too much of a proud person to say so.

She knew her sister was in a lot more pain than she was letting on. You could see it just by looking into her eyes.

Paige looked up at Phoebe's sad eyes which were now full of tears.

Paige looked down at her own lap. Not wanting to look at Phoebe. A single tear dropped down her cheek. Patty reached her arm across from next to her and put Paige's hand into her own hands. She stroked her hand gently; avoiding the knuckle as she also remembered where Paige's bruises were.

Paige looked at her mother gratefully.

Piper put her knife and fork down and looked up at the people around the table. She saw Phoebe first who had tears rolling down her cheeks. She looked across the table at Paige who Phoebe was looking at. Paige was staring at the floor. She had tears in her eyes which she was obviously trying to ignore. She looked across the table at her mother whose eyes were also welling up too.

"Is someone going to tell me what the hell happened!" Piper shouted. "Did you two have a fight or something? Because honestly, I'm imagining horrible scenarios which are probably so much worse than what actually happened." She said to all three of them frustratedly.

"They won't be." Phoebe said grumpily.

Piper looked at Phoebe worriedly. "What?"

"You were wrong with what you said. It's really bad." She said, looking at Paige.

"Well then somebody tell me!" Piper shouted, banging her fist on the table.

"Fine." Paige said, still looking down.

Paige stared at her with a confused expression.

"Do you want some time with her alone?" Phoebe asked Paige.

"Yes." Paige said quietly.

"Okay honey." Phoebe said sadly. She stood up, walked over to Paige and hugged her tightly. She put some of Paige's hair behind her ear, wiped away her tears on her cheeks with her thumbs and kissed her on the forehead before leaving.

"I'll go with Phoebe, sweetheart. Give you two some time alone. I love you, baby girl." She said, kissing Paige on the other cheek before leaving.

Piper watched all of this with a confused and worried expression.

Paige looked up at Piper who was the only one left at the table.

"Come and sit next to me." Piper said to her little sister.

Paige nodded. She stood up, swearing at the pain and walked around the table to Piper, gripping the side of the table the whole time.

"What is wrong with you? Are you hurt?" Piper asked worriedly.

"I'm just going to tell you okay. And I don't want you to freak out before I'm done because this is so hard to talk about and I don't want to repeat any of it." Paige said, wiping a tear from her own cheek. "But first I need to do something."

Paige lifted out a strip of paper from her pyjama bottom's pocket and read its contents. "Let the Object of Objection return, So that its existence may be reaffirmed." She whispered. And instantly her bruises and cuts reappeared.

"Oh my god." Piper gasped. "What happened to you?" She said worriedly.

"I said no questions until I'm done." Paige said, wiping a couple of tears away. She inhaled and exhaled once slowly before speaking. "Last night I was walking through the park quite late and a guy grabbed me. He gagged my mouth and took me somewhere in a van. Afterwards um, he dragged me out and took me to this disgusting house. It had no furniture in it and it was damp and nasty. He threw me down and locked the door. This other sicko came from another room and ...-" tears were streaming down her face now and she was shaking again. Piper was holding her hands but not taking her eyes away from Paige's distraught face. "- they." Paige swallowed loudly. "The beat and raped me." Paige said difficultly. After a minute of no response. Paige looked up at Piper who was staring at her in a state of shock.

Suddenly Piper blinked and seemed to be back. "Did...did you do a rape kit?"

"No."

"Why not?" Piper said, tears running down her cheeks now.

"Because I didn't want anyone I didn't know to touch me."

Piper nodded. "Why- why didn't you tell me when I first got in?" She stuttered.

"I didn't know what to say. I didn't want you to think about me differently or be upset about it. I didn't want to cause you any distress. It's not your problem, it's mine." Paige said, blinking tears away.

"Of course it's my problem." Piper outburst. "You're my little sister and a revolting thing happened to you. Therefore it's my business. It's all of ours. You're not going through this alone."

Paige nodded and leaning forward, hugging Piper. Piper held her tight as if she never wanted to let go.

"I'm never going to let anything happen to you _ever_ again." Piper said strongly. "I'm so sorry I wasn't there to stop it." She added, her voice going high with emotion.

Paige pulled away and sat back down. "It wasn't your fault. I've been through this with Phoebe. Neither of you could have known." She said honestly.

"So- how did you get back...?" Piper asked curiously.

"It was the middle of the night and I was really, really weak but I managed to orb here. I'd lost all my strength by the time I'd gotten to the staircase though and I collapsed and fell on the stairs. Phoebe saw this happen and she came and helped me. She helped me up the stairs and then the pain was too much and she sat us both down in the hallway. I cuddled up to her and we fell asleep for the rest of the night there."

"You both slept in the hall?"

"Yes. Then in the morning, mom came for a while and helped Phoebe look after me. Phoebe's not really left my side since. We were both exhausted today and we were talking on my bed and that's how we fell asleep together. That's why we were so close when you came in." Paige explained.

"That makes a lot more sense. Wait why didn't either of you call me?"

"I just didn't want to bother you and Phoebe was doing an amazing job at looking after me and you have the boys to worry about..."

"I know. You still should have called. Or let Phoebe call me." Piper scolded.

"Sorry."

"It's okay. I'm just glad you're alive."

Paige nodded.

"Paige, how bad are your injuries?"

Paige shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't really looked."

"Can I take a look? You can decide what I can see and what I can't."

"Okay. That seems fair." Paige sniffed and she stood up, her face scrunching up from the pain.

At that moment Phoebe walked into the dining room. "I'm sorry I know you wanted time alone but I wanted to see how you both were and mom's really busy making those potions for you and..."

"Phoebe it's okay." Paige nodded. "Piper wanted to see where I was hurt."

"Is that okay?" Phoebe asked cautiously.

"Yeah. I think I'll change into a sports bra and shorts. Then I won't have to keep messing about with my clothes."

"That's a good idea." Piper responded.

"Honey do you think you're strong enough to orb yet?" Phoebe asked.

"I don't know I haven't tried."

"Maybe you could try and orb upstairs?" Phoebe suggested curiously.

"Okay, I'll try."

With a flash of blue lights, she was gone. They waited a second before hearing a large thump above them.

"Oh god." Phoebe said, running up the stairs. Piper followed behind her. They opened Paige's bedroom door and found Paige sitting on the floor next to their mother.

"What happened?" Phoebe asked.

"I managed to orb okay. I just couldn't really land. My legs kind of gave way."

Patty looked at her sympathetically and rested her hand on Paige's shoulder.

"Maybe we should wait until you're a little more healed before we try and do that again." Piper replied.

Paige nodded. "I'm going to get changed now so please could I have some privacy."

"Yes of course." Piper answered. Patricia Halliwell patted Paige on the shoulder before standing up and following Piper out of the room.

Phoebe hesitated. "Are you going to be okay? Do you need help getting up?" Phoebe asked worriedly.

"Actually, I do. Could you give me a hand?" Paige replied. Phoebe nodded, walked over to Paige and put her arms under Paige's armpits, helping her up. Paige wobbled slightly but Phoebe held her up tightly and she soon regained her balance.

"You're pretty unstable. Do you want to sit down?" Phoebe asked, still holding Paige stable.

"Yeah. My legs have gone like jelly." Phoebe moved her hands down so that they were on Paige's waist and set her down on the bed.

"Thanks." Paige added.

"It's fine." Phoebe stood up from next to her. "What clothes did you say you needed?"

"A sports bra and a pair of shorts." Phoebe nodded and walked over to Paige's dresser. She rooted around for a few minutes before pulling out a sports bra and a pair of pyjama shorts.

"Will these do?" Phoebe asked, holding them up.

"Yes, they're fine, thank you." Paige replied.

Phoebe passed her the clothes. "I'm gonna give you a bit of space. I'll be downstairs. I'll be back in five minutes. I'll knock first, okay?" Phoebe asked.

"Yeah." Paige gave her a grateful smile. Phoebe gave her a nod before walking out of her bedroom and closing the door.


	5. Chapter 5

AN: Thanks for the lovely support, it is much appreciated.

* * *

><p>Piper was sat with her mother in her bedroom.<p>

"How are you holding up?" Patricia asked her daughter.

"I'm just in shock really. I feel like I should be so mad, so angry but the shock hit me hard and I just feel…deflated. I can't believe this happened. She's the youngest, she's the baby." Piper said to her mother sadly.

"I know. I understand. I feel helpless. She was my baby too." Patty said, wiping away a tear that had escaped.

"I'm sorry mom. I never thought of how hard this must be for you."

"Oh don't worry about me darling, just look after your sister, and Phoebe too. This has hit her really, really hard."

"What do you mean?"

"Phoebe's absolutely devastated. She's not letting on how upset she is, for Paige's sake. And I don't know how well Paige is coping with this. She seems to just be burying it and trying to forget it."

"But you don't want to keep to keep remembering awful experiences. She probably has a vivid memory of all the horrible things that they did to her. Remembering and thinking about it would be like reliving it. It would eat her alive."

"When did you get so insightful?" She gave Piper a small smile in the dimly lit room.

"Mom, are you getting this urge to wrap Paige up and just cuddle her until things get better?"

"Yes, but I think Phoebe's got that covered. I don't want Paige to feel smothered. At the moment she's letting Phoebe in and letting Phoebe take care of her, I think if either of us try to ask too many questions or smother her, she'll just push us all away and she can't be alone. Not right now."

Piper nodded. "What was the potion you made?"

"It's a strong healing potion, it should reduce some if her pain. And it will sort things out if she has any internal bleeding or otherwise. It basically does the doctor's job for us."

"That's good, considering she won't go to a real doctor." Piper added. She paused for a moment. "It's been a while; shall we go and see if she's changed?" Piper asked.

"Yes but I don't think she will want me there. She did agree to _your_ proposition, not mine and she may be uncomfortable showing me where men beat her."

"I'll go and ask her. But first I think I'm going to tidy up after dinner."

"Okay sweetheart."

* * *

><p>Phoebe knocked on Paige's door and after hearing no loud protests, she opened it.<p>

Paige was sat down in front of the long mirror in her bedroom. She was wearing the clothes Phoebe had given to her, she had tears on her cheeks and she seemed to be in a worried trance.

"Paige, are you okay sweetheart?" Phoebe asked worriedly. Paige snapped out of what she was in and looked at Phoebe, she gasped and her face looked startled.

"I'm sorry honey. I didn't mean to scare you. I thought you heard me come in." Phoebe apologised.

"I'm- sorry, Everything just flashed through my head."

"What did?" Phoebe asked, kneeling down next to Paige.

"Last night. It flashed through my head like a timeline. I-couldn't stop it." Paige said with an uncomfortable expression.

"Well are you okay?"

"No, -I don't think so." She replied, still looking startled.

Phoebe looked at her anxiously. "Is there anything I can do?"

Paige shook her head sadly. "Just do what you're already doing Phoebes."

Phoebe nodded appreciatively. She glanced down at Paige's bruised skin and noticed lots of little goose bumps. She leaned over to the bed and pulled off a red velvet blanket that had been on top of the duvet. She wrapped it over Paige closely. Making sure the blanket covered all of her upper body.

Phoebe down sat closely next to her and looked at Paige's exposed legs. There were noticeable large bruises on her knees but only a few cuts and scrapes from there downwards.

"I love you Paige." Phoebe said simply.

"I love you too." Paige said, turning her head and looking at Phoebe. Phoebe nodded before leaning down and resting her head on Paige's shoulder. Paige rested her head on the top of Phoebe's so that they were in a comfortable, yet simplistic embrace.

At that moment, Piper opened the door to Paige's room. "Hey you two. Paige are you ready?" She said sadly.

"Yeah." Paige nodded. "Just give me a minute." She said, cuddling closer to Phoebe.

"Okay. I'll be downstairs. And Paige- do you want mum to be there?"

Paige thought for a moment. "I don't think so. It's weird. I don't really think describing my rape will exactly be any fun for either of us." She replied.

"Okay honey. I'll tell her. I think she needs to go back anyway. She said she would be back tomorrow. She'll come and see you before she goes." Piper said sadly. She felt sad just looking at her sister.

To Piper, everything felt different now. Paige seemed to always want Phoebe to cuddle her or be close by, which was odd because normally Paige was quite a reserved person with minimal contact towards her sisters. Paige had always gotten on with Phoebe a little better than she had with Piper but she thought the main reason for the current close contact was that Phoebe had looked after her and held her close on the first night she'd got back when Piper hadn't been there.

Piper watched them for a moment. Phoebe was resting on Paige's shoulder and had an arm wrapped around Paige's back. Paige's head was resting lightly on Phoebe's and she was leaning towards her, her legs slightly on top of Phoebe's. They were in front of the mirror just calmly staring at themselves and talking quietly.

Phoebe looked up and noticed that Piper was still there, watching them. She beckoned her over. Piper walked forwards and knelt down next to Phoebe. Paige looked up at Piper and smiled that she'd sat with them. With her spare hand, Phoebe picked up Piper's hand and held it, placing them both on Piper's lap.

Piper looked in the mirror a couple of metres away from them. "We look quite alike." She observed.

"Yeah." Phoebe replied. "Me and you have the same eyes, Pipe." Phoebe looked in the mirror. "And we all have a similar colour hair."

Piper nodded. She looked at Paige's reflection in the mirror. There was a red blanket covering most if her body but Piper could clearly see her head. "Paige looks a lot more like Prue than we did."

Phoebe turned and looked at Paige next to her. "Yeah."

Paige gave her a small smile.

The matriarch of the family tapped on the door slightly and then entered. "My beautiful girls." She smiled. "I'm afraid I must go. I will be back tomorrow Paige. You three take care of each other, I'm sure you will." She said lovingly.

She walked over to them, stroked Piper's hair and kissed her on the forehead. Leaned down and hugged Phoebe and moved over to Paige. "Be strong okay, baby?" Her mother said lovingly. Paige nodded and Patty leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek, stroking her hair before she stood up.

"I love you girls. Have a nice night and get a lot of rest. All three of you need it." She said before walking out of the door.

Piper looked over at Paige who looked upset. "You okay, sweetie?" She said, leaning over Phoebe and stoking Paige's knee gently.

"Yeah. I'm just going to show you my bruises in here. I want to get this over and done with."

"Okay sweetheart." Piper replied.

"Paige do you want me to go?" Phoebe asked.

"No stay." Paige responded. Phoebe nodded. Paige pulled the blanket off of herself and looked in the mirror at her sore body.

Piper stood up and knelt down directly in front of Paige and Phoebe twisted herself around so that she could see Paige better.

Piper gasped at the large bruise on Paige's rib. "How did you get that one?" She pointed at it.

"-I was screaming at him to stop and he punched me hard in the ribs, it winded me so I shut up." Paige said circling it gently with her fingertips. Piper looked at her in shock.

Phoebe suddenly noticed lots and lots of thin cuts all up of Paige's inner thighs. "Sweetheart, how did you get those?"

Paige swallowed, she looked ill. "They had a penknife... They did it there... As well." She pointed at her private area. "Before they raped me, so it would hurt more." Paige said disgustedly.

"That is truly horrific." Piper responded in shock.

"Paige are you in a lot of pain now, in your... Private area?" Phoebe asked with concern.

Paige nodded. "There's this constant burning and the cuts there sting whenever I walk as well."

"Oh sweetie why didn't you say?"

"It's... uncomfortable to talk about." Paige said uneasily.

"I know honey but you can trust us. We just want you to feel better. We love you." Piper responded.

"I know. It's just hard."

Phoebe nodded. "Are you bleeding... Down there?" She asked.

Paige nodded.

Phoebe sighed. She picked up an old book from a shelf in Paige's room and started pacing around. "I am going to kill those sick sons of bitches. They deserve to rot in hell. I don't care that they are humans, I am going to vanquish their sorry asses." Phoebe got angrier the more she said. "Fucking bastards." She shouted, she through the book violently and it hit the wall with a bang.

"Phoebe!" Piper shouted.

"No Piper. I am going to fucking kill them!" She shouted. "Or-or I'm going to find a way to torture them. Those fucking bastards won't know what hit them." She shouted.

"Phoebe stop!" Paige stood up, swearing at the pain. Paige wrapped her arms around her sister and Phoebe began to cry on her shoulder. "Stop." Paige said quietly.

"But they did this to you." Phoebe sobbed, her hands shaking. Piper wiped away a tear, watching her sisters.

"Phoebe it's okay. It's over now." Paige said close to her ear.

"No. It's never going to be okay. Two men tortured you Paige. Look at you!" She pulled away and gestured at Paige's body.

Paige nodded and pulled Phoebe back into a hug. "Hurting them won't help you. You'll just get found out and go to jail. What's the point in that? Then they've broken two of us." Paige said into her neck.

"Paige you're not broken." Piper said, walking over to them. She ran the back of her finger over Paige's cheek that was resting on Phoebe's shoulder. "Nobody can break you." She said quietly to her baby sister.

Paige looked at her with wet eyes. She was still wrapped around Phoebe. "You're wrong." She said barely a whisper.

Piper shook her head. "No sweetheart." She said stroking Paige's hair softly.

Phoebe stood silently, holding her sister. She didn't want to ever let her go. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she cried in silence. "She's right Paige." Phoebe said between tears.

"Why don't we snuggle up on the bed and watch a film? I think this is too much right now. I'm sorry Paige, I shouldn't have asked you to do that."

"Don't be sorry. I think we all just got overwhelmed." She said quietly. She pulled away from Phoebe but took her hand and sat on the bed with her. Piper sat down on the other side of the bed with Paige in the middle.

Phoebe picked up the remote and turned on the tv in Paige's bedroom. "There isn't any good films on catch up." Phoebe muttered while flicking through the channels.

"Well let's just watch whatever film is in the DVD player." Piper replied. Phoebe flipped over to the AV channel and the Bridgett Jones' Diary DVD main menu came up.

Phoebe hesitated with the remote. "Is this okay?" She asked Paige.

Paige nodded, "I'm probably going to fall asleep anyway."

"Okay sweetheart." Phoebe replied, pressing play.

Twenty minutes into the film, Paige was fast asleep with her head on Phoebe's lap and her legs across piper. Phoebe was stroking Paige's hair gently and Piper was making patterns with her fingers onto Paige's calf.

"She's out cold." Piper said to Phoebe while looking at her sleeping sister.

"Yeah. She's had a long day." Phoebe responded, yawning.

"So have you. You've practically not left her side." Piper gave her a faint smile.

"I know. I just feel so scared for her. I have this need to protect her. I think it's because I'm an Empath and I can feel how frightened she actually is."

"She feels frightened?" Piper asked.

"Yes. She's petrified, depressed and she feels weak and vulnerable. She feels like she's useless." Phoebe said sadly, stroking Paige's cheek with her thumb.

"She does? Why won't she actually tell us this?"

"You know what she's like, she's brave. She doesn't like people knowing how she feels or how much she's hurting, physically or mentally."

"You're right." Piper said sadly, looking down at her sister's bare legs. Paige was still wearing the shorts and sports bra as she'd never actually had a chance to change earlier.

Piper looked at her bruised knees. "I just can't believe this happened. It's so surreal. It's crazy to think that one disgusting power crazy act from one human can affect another person in such a devastating way."

Phoebe nodded. "Piper can I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"When do you think things will go back to normal?"

Piper thought for a moment. "I don't know sweetie. I think when Paige's injuries have healed, things might start getting back to the ways they used to be, but I don't think it will ever be exactly the same. This will always have happened to our sister." Piper said sadly. The film was still playing but they had both lost interest a while ago.

"I wonder how often she thinks about it."

"I don't know. I'm really worried about her Phoebes."

"I know. Me too."


	6. Chapter 6

It was 4am and all three sisters had fallen asleep in Paige's bed. When the film had finished hours ago, Piper and Phoebe had carefully turned Paige around so that she was sleeping in the bed properly and soon after that, the remaining sisters had fallen asleep also.

Piper and Phoebe were sleeping soundly when they were suddenly awoken to the sound of Paige having a nightmare.

"Stop! Please I'm begging you!" Paige screamed, there were tears running down her cheeks.

She cried loudly and then let out a high pitched scream. Phoebe shot up and started to shake her sister.

"Sweetheart, it's just a dream. You need to wake up. You're having a nightmare."

Piper squeezed her shoulder from the other side. "Come on Paige, wake up honey. It will stop if you just open your eyes."

"Just leave me alone! Stop please!" Paige cried from her slumber.

"You're safe. We're both here Paige and we want you to wake up, baby." Phoebe said sadly, still shaking her gently.

Paige's eyes suddenly shot open. She was violently shaking and there were tears streaming down her cheeks.

Phoebe moved closer to her side and hugged her tightly. "You're safe now sweetheart."

Paige cried on her shoulder. Piper looked at Phoebe whose head was facing her on Paige's shoulder. "Did this happen last night after she'd gotten back?" She asked with concern.

Phoebe nodded. She pulled away from Paige slowly and lowered her down onto the bed. Paige lay on her back, silently crying. Piper picked up one of her hands and held it in both of her own.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Piper asked.

"No. It was so awful." Paige cried.

Phoebe stroked her shoulder gently. It was dark in the room but all of their faces were clearly visible because of the bright moon seeping in through the window.

"Have you had these nightmares every time you've fallen asleep? Piper asked.

"Nearly every time, but I didn't have one yesterday when I was cuddled up to Phoebe." Paige said, calming down slightly.

"Well why don't you guys cuddle up again and maybe it will stop you having anymore tonight." Piper said insightfully.

Paige nodded. "Is that okay?" She asked Phoebe.

"Of course sweetie." Phoebe replied. She lay back down on her back. "Come here."

Paige shuffled closer to Phoebe and rested her head on Phoebe's shoulder. Phoebe wrapped her arm around her sister and pulled her close.

After seeing that her youngest sister was satisfied, Piper soon relaxed and closed her eyes too.

After half an hour of the Charmed Ones sleeping, someone unexpected entered the room. They opened the door carefully, trying not to make any noise and stepped into the dark bedroom, watching as the three young women slept.

* * *

><p>The woman smiled at their beauty. She walked slowly over to the side of the bed where Phoebe was sleeping.<p>

She stroked her hair gently, careful not to wake her. "I miss you so much Phoebe. I love you." Prue Halliwell said to her younger sister. She kissed Phoebe on the forehead before walking back around the bed to where Piper was sleeping.

Paige lay awake listening. She had awoken to the sound of Prue coming into the room but felt like she should stay silent. She didn't recognise the voice but it sounded loving and… familiar.

"Pipe." A single tear rolled down Prue's cheek. "I miss you so much too. I miss your cooking, the way you brighten rooms with your smile and most of all I just miss your company." She whispered. "All those times you cheered me up just by being you." She said with love. She kissed Piper's forehead and slowly and regretfully retreated out of the room.

Paige sat up, managed to step over Phoebe without disturbing her and walked into the hall.

She saw a light on under Piper's bedroom door and with pain in her legs she managed to walk there. She opened the door handle slowly and opened the door a crack, looking in.

Prue was sat on top of Piper's bed with her legs crossed, staring deeply at a photo album. Paige opened the door further after recognising Prue. She'd seen Prue in various photos around the house, an occasional home video and when Phoebe had taken her to the past.

Prue looked up, she looked startled. She put her hands up in a surrendering position. "I'm not a demon, I promise." She said defensively.

"I know you're not. I know who you are." She gave Prue a small smile. She walked over to Piper's bed and stopped by the side, silently seeking permission to sit. Prue immediately nodded and shuffled to the side further to make more room.

Paige sat down, wincing slightly and then looked at Prue for a long time. She looked at Prue's dark hair, the freckle on her cheek and her gentle but protective features. "Do you... Know who I am?" Paige asked.

"Of course I do. You're one of the family. You're my baby half sister." Prue smiled.

Paige nodded. "I always wished I'd gotten to meet you."

"Vice versa." Prue smiled. "How are you doing?" She asked. "Like how are you feeling?" She stroked Paige's shoulder gently.

"I'm not my best to be honest." Paige said sadly.

"I'm so sorry about what happened. You wouldn't believe how mad I was, I still am." Prue said angrily.

"How could you be mad about it when you don't know me?"

"Well it's weird because I feel like I do know you, very well. You see I've been watching over you, Piper and Phoebe since pretty much the day I died so I've kind of had years learning about you. I don't see you as a stranger, I just see you as my sister." Prue said, picking up Paige's hands.

"I know I don't know you that well but I already see you as a sister too. There's just something about you that feels so familiar and family-like."

Prue gave her a warm smile. "How are they...doing.. Phoebe and Piper?" She asked a little nervously.

"Why don't you ask them yourself?" Paige asked curiously.

"That's a very good question." Piper said from the doorway with a raised eyebrow.

Prue's eyes widened. "Piper I didn't want you guys to see me, this is about Paige. I don't want you to get distracted."

"Do I not even get a hug?" Piper asked.

Prue stood up and walked over to Piper. "I'm sorry, of course you can." She gave her sister a warm smile.

Piper stepped forwards and pushed her body into Prue's warm arms.

Prue held her tightly and a small tear rolled down her cheek. "You don't know how long I've wanted to do that." She said into Piper's shoulder.

"I can imagine. It's the same for me." Piper replied.

Prue pulled away slowly but kept her arms on her younger sister's shoulders.

She looked Piper up and down and smiled. "Look at you all grown up."

"I was an adult when you last saw me." Piper replied.

"Barely, you were twenty five and you'd only just opened the club." She said with a twinge of sadness. She paused for a moment and then spoke again. "Anyway. I'm sorry to say this but I really was only here to see Paige. The elders sent me back down to talk to you." She said, looking at Paige who was sat on the bed.

"The Elders?" Paige asked.

"Yes. They heard Phoebe screaming at them yesterday. After hearing what she said, they thought you deserved a little extra help. That's also why mom's been down."

"Oh." Paige replied. "Well thank you for coming anyway. You didn't have to."

"It's my pleasure. It was the least I could do after what happened..." She paused. "Paige, I've tried everything you know. I've done my own fair share of yelling at The Elders, I spoke to the cleaners, I spoke to everyone I possibly could think of _up there_ but everyone either wouldn't or simply couldn't help me." She sighed, saying it apologetically.

"What do you mean?" Paige replied with a confused expression.

Prue sat down on the edge if the bed next to Paige and Piper stood watching in the doorway.

"I tried everything I could do to change what has happened to you Paige. I tried to make them turn back time, astral project myself to help you get away, use memory dust to make you forget, everything. But none of them were possible. I'm so sorry Paige." She said sadly.

Paige wiped away a tear. "Don't be. You obviously tried really hard to help me and I'm so touched. Thank you, Prue." Paige said meaningfully.

Prue nodded gratefully.

"Could you do something for me?" Paige asked in response.

"Yeah, what is it?" Prue responded.

"Can you go and wake up Phoebe so she can see you? I couldn't live with myself if I got to see you and she didn't. She misses you a lot Prue." Paige said meaningfully.

Prue gave her a sad smile. "Okay sweetie." She replied and walked out of the room.

Piper turned to look at Paige. "So how come you're awake missy?"

"Prue accidentally woke me up." Paige responded. She decided not to say what Prue was doing or saying, she thought her sister was entitled to her own privacy.

"Oh." Piper responded with a nod. She walked over to Paige and sat down next to her on the bed. "What you looking at there?"

"It's a photo album; Prue was originally looking at it. It's nice." She said turning the page. There were pictures taken from when Paige had first moved in and pictures of Wyatt and Chris getting bigger and bigger.

Paige suddenly turned to face Piper. "Piper, where _are_ the boys?" She asked with concern.

"I told Leo to stay in New York with them, see some more sights. They're staying in a hotel tonight." She replied.

"Okay. Did you tell Leo about what happened?" She asked curiously, she didn't actually mind if Piper had told him. He was her brother in law after all and she did trust Leo.

"No I actually didn't, I didn't know how you felt about this so I decided not to. Also he needs some more alone time with the boys. They don't get a lot of time together these days."

Paige nodded.

Piper looked at Paige. She could still see all of her sister's bruises. "So how are you holding up sweetheart?" She asked, briefly stroking Paige's cheek with the back of her hand.

"I'm...okay." Paige responded quietly.

"Honey you don't look okay." Piper said sadly. "I know you're an incredibly strong person but please, please be completely honest with me. How are you really feeling?" Piper said a little desperately.

"Okay. I'll make a list for you. Lists are always good..." Paige said. She tried to push enthusiasm into her words though she struggled.

"Go on..." Piper said, encouraging her.

Paige sighed. "I feel depressed, anxious, scared, miserable, disgusting, dirty, weak, vulnerable, violated, exhausted, hurt, broken and...just sad really." She said as a tear rolled down her cheek like a tiny snowball rolling down an icy mountain.

Piper wiped her own wet eyes. "I'm sorry baby that you feel that way. It must be so awful." She leaned forwards and enclosed Paige in her arms. Paige hugged her back tightly and rested her chin on Piper's shoulder.

They both cried for a while and eventually Piper pulled away. She put her hand on Paige's neck. "I love you Paige and I hope you know we're going to take care of you. However long it takes. We're going to wait until every single one of those feelings disappears. Do you understand?" She said lovingly into her sister's eyes.

Paige nodded. "Thank you Piper. It means a lot." She replied, her voice coarse with emotion. They hugged once more before getting of the bed and walking down the hall.

They walked into Paige's bedroom and Phoebe was sat in the bed next to Prue with her arms wrapped around her tightly. Phoebe had wet eyes.

"Phoebe, are you okay?" Piper asked from the doorway.

Phoebe shrugged. "It's not the highlight of our family is it? One of my sisters has come back from the dead after five years to help another one of my sisters after she was brutally raped." She cried. "This is so bad."

Paige watched her. "Phoebe, we've battled The Hollow, The Triad, Barbas, The Source, I think we've experienced worse." Paige responded.

"No Paige. We haven't, and none of us know how we should feel. I've been having a mental fight with myself to not murder the vile men that did this to you. Every second of the day I'm just subconsciously thinking about every step."

"Don't Phoebe. They're not worth it."

"I know that _they_ are not worth it but killing them would be."

Piper looked at her with concern. "Phoebe this is the side of you we saw when we went to the future. Remember? And what happened? You were burnt at the stake and thousands witches were in hiding because there was practically a recreation of the Salem Witch Trials." Piper inputted from across the room.

Phoebe nodded sadly. "I know. I'm just so mad. You don't get to do that to someone in our family and get away with it. Why aren't you angry Piper?"

"Phoebe I'm furious. I just don't want to make things worse. Anger makes me go crazy. I do stupid things so I'm trying to swallow it. But it's pretty damn hard." Piper said with fury.

"Why can't we just kill them? No one would know, there are so many ways we could cover it up."

"They're not demons phoebe. We can't just vanquish them. It's not as easy as that." Piper said sadly with her hand resting on Paige's shoulder.

"But...look at her." Phoebe said with tears in her voice. Piper and Prue looked at Paige. She still had a bruised eye and a bust lip. She had scratches and cuts on her neck and the parts of her chest they could see. One of her wrists had a purple bruise around it and her knuckles on both hands were also covered with abrasions.

Paige looked down at her body and sighed. "Phoebe there's nothing we can do." She said defeatedly.

"Paige don't think like that." Prue said from on the bed.

"It's true though. It's over. They won. And there's nothing we can do about it. I wouldn't take the rape kit so there's no evidence. I don't know who they are and I don't even really remember what they looked like. Just forget Phoebe. It's over." Paige said to Phoebe before brushing Piper off and walking out of the room.

Paige went downstairs and found the painkillers she'd been taking. She was due another dose and she definitely needed it. She also picked up one of the vials her mother had made and swallowed its contents.

She sighed to herself, walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. It was actually the middle of the night but she just didn't feel that tired anymore.


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: I wrote this rather quickly so I apologize if it is slightly unedited. **

* * *

><p>A few days passed and with a combination of painkillers and her mom's remedy potion, Paige's bruises had already begun to heal significantly.<p>

Phoebe, Paige and Piper were eating breakfast at the kitchen table.

Piper was reading the morning newspaper while occasionally glancing at Paige, thinking about how considerably healthier she looked. Before their mother's potion had properly started working, Paige's skin had been a grossly pale colour and the bruises had made her look like she should be lying on an autopsy table.

Phoebe was discretely observing Paige that morning too.

After a few of Piper's home cooked delicacies, plenty of medication and far too much babying from her siblings, Paige's skin had begun to return its glow.

Paige looked over at Piper and caught her eye. "We do you keep looking at me like that?" She asked.

Phoebe looked over at Paige and watched.

"Like what?" Piper responded innocently.

"Like that." Paige gave her a small smile. "I thought that with my bruises starting to show a little less, you'd both stop looking at me so much but it's like the opposite!" She exclaimed.

"Paige that's _why_ we're looking at you. You're looking so much healthier and it's making me happy." Piper smiled.

Paige smiled. "Really?" She looked at Phoebe.

Phoebe nodded. "You've healed so much; a lot of your bruises are barely brown now. You look lovely. You're really starting to look like your old self." Phoebe smiled, giving Paige's forearm a friendly squeeze.

"You really think so?" Paige asked them both in disbelief.

"Yeah!" Piper smiled. "Your lip has completely healed and all of your bruises are fading. This kind of healing should have taken weeks, it's only been days." She said in wonder.

"I guess mom's still got it in her." Phoebe smiled. "Those potions seem pretty miraculous."

"Yeah." Paige responded. "I need to thank her again for those. It was so kind of her."

"It was." Piper responded. "It's nice to know that she still looks out for us, isn't it?" She smiled.

"Yeah. I guess not everyone's mothers come back from the grave to take care of them when they are in need." Phoebe happily sighed.

"Well she's not exactly an ordinary mother." Paige said with a smile.

* * *

><p>A few hours later Phoebe, Paige and Piper were sat on the living room couch.<p>

"Oh god." Phoebe sighed.

"What's up?" Piper asked curiously.

"I just realised that none of us have even left the house in six days." Phoebe replied.

Paige raised her eyebrows. She hadn't realised how long it had actually been. "Phoebe, why don't you and I go and get some groceries today. We're running really low." She suggested.

"Well sure, but are you okay to do that?"

"Yes. I'm fine. I'm not made of porcelain."

"Okay. Let's go." Phoebe stood up.

"I'll make something that we can all eat when you guys get back." Piper added.

"That sounds great. I'll look forward to it." Paige nodded while standing up. Piper smiled.

"We'll be back in an hour or two." Phoebe said before walking out of the kitchen with Paige.

Paige Matthews was wearing a black pair of combat trousers and a nice top. Phoebe was wearing a silky orange vest top and a brown skirt. Phoebe's hair was in a neat bun and Paige's hair rested around her shoulders.

It was a quick twenty minute drive to the nearest supermarket and Paige and Phoebe were chatting as they drove there.

"You seem very cheerful today." Phoebe observed.

"Well I'm feeling a lot more cheerful." Paige responded next to her.

"Is there a particular reason for that?" Phoebe asked.

"Strong pain relief and two wonderful sisters seem to have done the trick." Paige smiled.

Phoebe looked at her and smiled appreciatively.

Paige sighed happily and glanced out of the window at the sunny day in San Francisco.

Phoebe opened her mouth and closed it again thinking of what to say. "-You know, I've been really worried about you Paige."

Paige glanced back at her. "I know." She responded.

"I was so scared the first night you got back. You were so weak and vulnerable and I'd never seen you like that before."

Paige nodded sadly.

"You were so sad as well. So sad. It made me so frightened for you. I imagined what could have happened to you and I feared the worst." Phoebe said, her eyes fixed to the road in front of her. "And I guess it happened. But what I'm trying to say is that I'm still worried about you. Paige it's only been six days. I was expecting you to be that shaky, devastated person you were the night I found you for at least three weeks. Not less than six days. So I'm just wondering if you are actually okay in there. Or if you still feel that way but are getting better and better at being your old self and hiding it."

Paige listened and thought about what Phoebe had said. "I'm sorry I made you so worried about me."

"No. Don't apologise, I didn't mean to make it sound it sound like a criticism because you were not in the wrong, never. And it's what we do, worry about each other."

Paige nodded. "Yeah. -Wait why are you asking me this when you have empathic powers. You know exactly how I'm feeling all of the time."

"Because I want to hear it from you. And I'm trying to tone down my empathic powers because they just seem to cause problems."

"I would normally detest to you toning down any of your powers but in this case, I'm not so sure." Paige gave her a half smile.

"So tell me. I'll switch off my head and listen to how you feel. Because I want to know."

Paige thought about it. "You're right about the six days thing. I do still have all of those feelings but I'm just trying to get rid of them. I want to push this away. Bury it down inside my body so I can just move on with my life."

"That's not healthy."

"But reliving it and thinking about it constantly would ruin me. I would never get better. It would just end up with me killing myself or getting obsessed with it and crazily trying to catch the guys. So I think the best thing is to just try and push it away. Those guys already took enough from me. They don't deserve my life too."

"I know sweetie but you can't just bury things. It will haunt you in a different way."

"You sound like you're speaking from experience."

"Let's not get distracted." Phoebe said, taking a left turn. "I'm trying to say that I want you to put this behind you and move on with your life at some point in the very near future but maybe not today."

"Yes Dr. Halliwell. Thank you for your advice." Paige said a little sarcastically.

"I'm not joking around Paige. I'm serious."

"I know, I know. I just don't know what to say."

"I know honey. This whole thing is really difficult." Phoebe replied, looking at Paige.

Paige nodded.

After another five minutes of driving, they had reached the supermarket. Next to the supermarket there were a chain of other shops that were mainly clothes stores and furniture stores.

"Maybe we could have a look at some clothes afterwards." Phoebe suggested.

"Yeah sure." Paige said whilst getting out of the car.

Phoebe smiled, linked up her arm in Paige's and they walked across the car park into the grocery store.

They did a fairly quick shop and managed to get everything they needed. They took their shopping bags and put them in the boot before heading into the clothes store.

Paige looked around at all the tops, jeans and dresses. "These are really cute clothes. I don't know why I've never been here before."

"I used to come here with Cole a lot because he liked the men's clothes here."

Paige smiled. They walked around for a while, browsing all of the beautiful clothes when Paige stopped frozen.

Her body stiffened and she stared at a man a few metres away in fear. He was fairly tall and very built up; he had sandy coloured hair and piercing eyes. He seemed calm and collected and was browsing the clothing aisles.

Paige stared in horror. She couldn't forget those blue eyes. She'd already managed to forget a lot about that night but she could never forget those icy blue goblets that stared deep into her eyes when they raped her.

She backed up defensively into a shelf and hit her back hard. Her breathing intensified and her whole body started shaking in fear. She watched with utter terror as he continued staring at the clothes. Luckily he hadn't seen her.

"Paige what's wrong?" Phoebe asked worriedly. She tried to walk closer to her sister but the look in her eyes was scaring her. She looked so freaked out and petrified that Phoebe actually felt scared to approach her.

Suddenly she got it. She followed her gaze and stared and the menacing man. Even if she hadn't known what he had done, he would have given her the chills.

Paige's whole body shook. She couldn't control herself. Suddenly every moment of that night came flooding back. How they'd hit her constantly, how she'd screamed and cried non stop, how she thought that this was how she was going to die. She remembered the way they touched her hair and stroked her face, even as she turned her head away in disgust. She remembered them cutting her legs with the small knife. But most of all, she remembered those eyes.

Tears were falling down her cheeks and she couldn't take her eyes away from him. Suddenly, he looked up. He stared right at her, watched her, absorbing her emotion. Then he smiled. Straight into her eyes, he gave her a cocky grin, a proud smile. Enjoying her state.

Although he was a few metres away, his face was plain as sight. He smiled darkly and took a step towards her, jokily.

Paige put her arms in front of her face defensively. Phoebe watched in horror. She was frozen in shock. She'd had a plan in her head for if she ever got to meet either of those bastards, she had a whole list of ways she would hurt them, but right now, she just couldn't. She couldn't make her legs move; they were frozen to the spot.

He took another step forwards smiling as Paige flinched again. She watched desperately as he slowly walked closer from a few metres away. He came closer to them. One step at a time. Grinning. He was loving the effect he had on her.

When he was just a few metres away, he spoke to Paige. "Just you wait girl. The last time was only a warm up." He snarled with a grin.

He suddenly lunged forward and Paige grabbed Phoebe's wrist tightly and orbed them both, screaming as she did so.

Xxxxxxx

Then landed roughly in the manor, both hitting the ground hard. Paige instantly sat up and scurried over to the wall, pulling her knees up to her chest defensively. Her eyes were still wide and frightened.

Piper ran into the living room where they both were. "What the hell happened?" She asked worriedly. Phoebe sat up slowly and quickly wiped away some tears that had formed.

Paige put her head on her knees and cried loudly. Her body was still shaking violently and her back was throbbing from where she'd hit the shelf in the store.

Piper crouched down in front of Phoebe and Paige, waiting for an answer.

Phoebe sat, stunned. She didn't know what to say. She's never felt so weak and embarrassed in her whole life. She couldn't imagine how Paige was feeling right now.

Phoebe shuffled over to Paige from the floor. "Sweetheart it's going to be okay." She said with tears in her voice, stroking her sister's arm that was wrapped around her knees. Paige didn't even look up.

"Phoebe what's going on?" Piper said desperately.

"I'll- I'll tell you later. We need to make sure she's okay. This was really bad Piper." Phoebe stuttered, now gently shaking Paige's arm. "Paige please just look at me."

Paige shook her head and cried harder into her knees.

"Paige please. I need to know you're okay." Phoebe said, tears also running down her cheeks. She could feel Paige's body shaking under her hand. "C'mon baby. Please, just look at me." Phoebe said sadly. Paige finally looked up slowly. Her cheeks tear stained and her eyes full of emotion.

"Oh sweetheart." Phoebe cried, clutching her younger sister's cheek. "I know that was really, really scary but it's never going to happen again." Phoebe said, also trying to convince herself.

"But what he said-" Paige spluttered. Piper watched worriedly. She picked up Paige's hand and held it tightly in her own.

"It's not going to happen Paige. Simple as that." Phoebe said firmly. "I promise. And I mean that. More than I've ever meant anything before. I won't let him. Never." She said before giving Paige's forehead a quick chaste kiss.

Paige looked at her gratefully through tears.

"What happened?" Piper asked quietly. Not expecting an answer.

Phoebe sighed to herself. "We- were in the clothes store and we- came across one of the men that… raped Paige. He was a creepy, disgusting son-of-a-bitch. She got really, really scared and he stepping forwards with this sick grin, scaring the shit out of her. He suddenly ran at her and she screamed and orbed us back here…" Phoebe said, looking at Paige.

"Oh god. Sweetie are you okay?" Piper said, moving closer to Paige.

Paige looked at her with dismay. "I don't feel so good." Paige said, putting her hand on her forehead. Paige pushed her self up so that she was now standing against the wall.

"What do you mean?" Piper said to her worriedly, standing up too.

Paige looked down at her shaking palms and they began to blur. She blinked her eyes a few times, trying to clear her vision but had no such look. It was whirling round and around in her head. She was remembering _it all_. Seeing him had sparked her memories back to life, made them so much more vivid. Memories flashed through her head, everything they'd done to her, flash, flash, flash. Every single time they'd hit her, flashing through her mind like a vortex. His triumphant grin in the clothes store. Filing through her brain. It all began to speed up and she got the most awful headache. Faster and faster the memories went, like a deck of cards being shuffled quickly. It spun faster and faster, a flash still separating every frame. Suddenly she realised her real world was spinning and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

_"Just you wait. The last time was only a warm up_." Was the last thing she heard before she collapsed.


	8. Chapter 8

_"Just you wait. The last time was only a warm up." Was the last thing she heard before she collapsed… _

* * *

><p>Piper ran forward, just managing to grab Paige's shoulders and support her head before she hit the ground. She rested Paige's head down gently so she was laying flat on her back on the living room floor. She put two of her fingers against Paige's neck and checked for a pulse. "She's still breathing." Piper sighed with relief. "She's out cold though."<p>

"Oh god. Paige? Paige?" Phoebe said, gently patting her sister's cheek. "Please wake up sweetie. Come on honey. You're safe here. It's safe now." She said anxiously. Piper stood up and went to get a flannel. She walked into the kitchen, wet a flannel and rinsed it, she then dabbed it gently onto Paige's light forehead.

"She's so pale." Phoebe said worriedly. "We need to get her to a hospital."

"Wait, give her a minute. See if she comes around. She-she might be okay." Piper replied

"Why are you not freaking out?" Phoebe shouted.

"I am! I don't know what to do!" Piper said worriedly, her voice going high. She continued to dab at her sister's forehead and muttered comforting words to her.

Phoebe stroked the hair back from her forehead. "Come on baby sister. Open your eyes." She said gently, stroking her head.

"We need to get her off the floor." Piper inputted.

"I agree." Phoebe nodded.

"You lift up her legs carefully, I'll get her top half and we'll rest her down on the couch, okay?" Piper issued.

"Yeah, 1-2-3." Phoebe counted, before doing as they had planned.

Once she was on the couch, Piper placed a pillow under her head and placed and thin blanket over her frail body.

"She looks so weak." Piper said, glancing down at her sister.

"I know. She's not looked this bad since I found her on the stairs that first night."

"Shall we call Leo? Mom? 911?" Piper panicked.

"I don't know. I thought you had a plan." Phoebe said with an equally as worried tone.

"Nope. This is as far as I'd got." Piper sighed. "What about mom's potions?" She proposed.

"What do you mean?"

"She said they help with anything bad happening internally. Maybe it will work for this."

"It's worth a shot. And it won't do her any harm." Phoebe shrugged, sitting down on the couch next to Paige's feet.

Piper nodded and walked out of the room. Phoebe could hear her going up the stairs. She stroked Paige's calf with her hand gently from on top of the blanket. "Come on Paige. We just want you to be okay. I don't want this to end up being a six month coma. Please just wake up now Sweetheart. We love you and we just want you to be safe." She carried on stroking Paige's calf softly. "Come on baby." Phoebe wiped a tear from her cheek. Despite her efforts, Paige didn't stir at all.

After a few minutes, Piper returned with one of the vials their mother had made a week before.

"This should help." She said as she crouched down in front of Paige. "How am I going to do this? She'll choke if I just pour it into her mouth." Piper asked.

"I don't know. Maybe just try and give her a little bit. If there's less of it then she won't choke as badly if she does."

"I guess that makes sense." Piper responded and poured a small amount of the contents from the vial in Paige's mouth. To their relief, she seemed to swallow it and did not choke as Piper had anticipated.

Around a minute later, Paige woke up and began to cough. Piper leaned forwards and patted her back.

"-What happened?" Paige asked with a tired and confused voice.

"You collapsed honey." Phoebe responded.

"I did?" Paige asked.

"Yes. You've been unconscious for about ten minutes." Piper responded.

"Oh. That's what happened." Paige said quietly. "Everything was spinning and he was going round and round in my head and suddenly… it just stopped." She said with confusion. Paige sat up and her face scrunched up. "My back hurts." She groaned.

"I'm not surprised honey." Phoebe responded. "You backed into the shelf at the clothes store pretty hard, you orbed and landed on your back and I think you hit your back again when you passed out." Phoebe responded, giving her leg a squeeze.

"Oh." Paige replied. She ran her hands tiredly over her face and eyes. "Thanks for what you said Phoebe."

"When?"

"Just now, I could hear you, I just couldn't wake up."

Phoebe smiled. "Anytime. It's all true."

"Are you sure? Even the part about me being safe?"

"Especially that part." Phoebe responded with a caring smile.

* * *

><p>A few hours had passed and Paige was cleansing in a nice hot bath. She sat there, thinking about the last week. She thought about when she'd gotten back and how we'll Phoebe had looked after her, she thought about how caring Piper had been, completely putting her work on hold. And she thought about how kind Prue had been. Yes they were sisters but they'd never properly met before then, yet Prue was so welcoming and kind. It had surprised her, in a good way.<p>

Paige looked down at her legs in the bath. They had a few large brown bruises and a couple if scrapes on the knees but they were so much better than they had been that first night.

On the first night, the bruises, shock and pain had been so bad that she couldn't even walk properly.

All three sisters had been astonished by how well Patty's healing potion had worked, and all very grateful. Without it, Paige reckoned that her body would still be in exactly the same state as it had been on the first night. So a supernatural mother came in very handy at a time like this.

Meanwhile, Phoebe was downstairs talking to Piper.

"Today was scary." Piper said as she stirred cake mix in a bowl. She'd decided that a bit of cake may cheer them up a bit.

"I know." Phoebe responded, leaning on the counter.

"Phoebe do you think she really _is_ safe?"

"I don't know. I think she's probably as safe as she could be, having powers and being a charmed one and all, but I don't know if she's properly safe." Phoebe replied anxiously.

Piper looked up from the bowl. "Really? You don't think her powers are enough?"

"Well they weren't last time." Phoebe muttered, resting her head on her hand.

Piper looked at her younger sister who was staring into space.

"Phoebes stop worrying. They don't know where she lives and they're never going to get to touch her again. We aren't going to let it happen. Not twice." Piper said firmly.

Phoebe nodded without looking up. "I just don't think she could handle it happening again. Like mentally."

"What do you mean?" Piper asked, stirring the bowl.

"Piper, she was so low for the first few days. She was in so much emotional _and_ physical pain I didn't think she was going to make it through. I was so scared that she might kill herself. She was speaking like life was so empty and she was so sad-" Phoebe said, panicking at the memory.

"Of course she was going to feel like that though. You or I would feel the same if it was us. You know that." Piper replied.

"No, you don't understand. In my whole life, I've never seen someone looking so defeated and depressed. And I'm an Empath Piper. I could feel what she was feeling and it was horrific. She felt petrified, she was so jumpy. And she was so desperate just to feel better again." Phoebe replied.

"Well does she still feel like that?" Piper asked curiously while spooning the mix into a cake tray.

"A bit. She's still petrified but she tries to ignore it. She feels really vulnerable and feels like random people in the street are just going to hurt her. She just wants to be looked after and cared for like when you're younger and you're sick." Phoebe replied, thinking hard.

"You get all that just from being around her?" Piper asked, putting the tray into the oven.

"Yep. A lot more as well but I only listen to the strongest of her feelings and listen to those. Sometimes I hate being an Empath. This is the worst time to have it."

"What do you think we should do?" Piper took off the oven gloves.

"I think we should work with how she's feeling. Look after her, not forget what happened to her even though she's trying to."

"Do you think we should talk to her about it? Tell her to tell us exactly what happened?" Piper leaned against the counter.

"No, we shouldn't make her recall it. It would be too painful for her. And probably hard for us as well." Phoebe thought aloud.

"I just wish I knew what to do. I'm not a therapist and I've never experienced anything like this before. I just wish I knew how to make her feel good again. I miss happy Paige." Piper spoke.

"I'm just following my gut instinct to look after her, but I think the first thing we need to do is put those bastards behind bars."

"Agreed. I've been thinking about that actually. Do you think we could scry for them?" Piper asked.

"What with?"

"I don't know. Paige may have something of theirs, like a strip of fabric or something. I'll have to ask her later."

Piper nodded. "That's a good idea."

* * *

><p>After half an hour or so, Paige wandered downstairs. Piper and Phoebe were sat at the dining room table chatting when she approached them.<p>

"Hey sweetie, how you doing?" Phoebe asked from the table. Piper looked up at her younger sister in the doorway.

"I'm still a bit shaken up. This morning was pretty awful." Paige responded, wrapping her arms around herself.

"It was." Phoebe replied sadly. "He was disgusting."

Paige scrunched up her face.

Piper tucked a strand of her own hair behind her ear. "Paige how do you feel right now? I want you to be honest." Piper asked with concern.

Paige looked at her uncomfortably. "I just feel really frightened all the time. I feel like if I go out, someone is just going to grab me and bash me about."

Paige walked up to her sisters and sat down on a chair next to them.

"I'm sorry you feel that way honey." Piper responded, rubbing Paige's shoulder gently.

Phoebe looked at her sadly. "You know," she looked around the room, gathering her words. "I just can't believe this happened." She finally said. Her voice made her sound exhausted, which made sense as she probably was.

Paige looked back at her, with nothing to say.

"I wish we could reverse time." Piper muttered.

Phoebe stood up and started pacing. "What pisses me off is that we can. Well, the cleaners could and they just won't let us."

"It is personal gain, I guess." Piper responded with a deep sigh.

"Who cares about personal gain at a time like this? I think Paige deserves plenty of personal gain if you ask me. In fact, she deserves a hell of a lot of it." Phoebe said, her voice getting louder and louder as she got angrier.

"Phoebe it's fine." Paige responded with a tired voice.

"No she's right Paige. It's not fine. It's definitely not fine." Piper said standing up from the table. "The elders owe you big time. This is not okay." She said strongly.

"Guys stop." Paige said defeatedly.

Piper ignored her disregard and continued. "The least they could do is show their sorry asses down here and actually apologise for not doing something to help you." Piper shouted, looking upwards and making it clear that she was speaking to them and not Paige.

Paige sat in the chair sadly. She hated what this had done to her sisters. In a way she felt like it was the worst part.

Phoebe seemed to be this person that was constantly holding in how she felt and trying to be strong for everyone else. Paige would often walk into a room and find Phoebe by herself just staring into space with tears in her eyes. She would ask what was wrong and Phoebe would just say _Nothing sweetie_ before walking out of the room or starting to do a chore extensively so no one could talk to her.

Paige felt bad for Phoebe. Unfortunately she had to have been the one at home when she'd gotten back, alone as well. She'd taken in the full burden and shock with no support, as well as looking after Paige and supporting her without fail. Yes, their mother had looked after Phoebe briefly but it wasn't enough. She felt bad for just thinking about herself and not how badly this had affected her sisters.

And Piper, she'd been pretty shaken up also. _She's completely dropped her life for me_ Paige thought to herself. She thought about everything Piper had done for her. Since Piper had found out; she'd told Leo to stay in New York with the boys for two whole weeks just so things could start to settle down and so she could focus her attention on Paige (Paige had accidentally overheard this conversation). Piper put a closed sign on the club saying it would be shut for a minimum of ten days. Who knows what that would do to business? She'd stayed at home for most of the time, cooking meals and cleaning up, only really leaving the house to get groceries and other essentials. She'd been so supportive in her own kind of way.

She needed to thank her sisters one day. She couldn't have asked for better ones. And Prue too. She'd been so kind and supportive, considering they'd never properly met and that one was deceased, it was a pleasant surprise for Paige to have the honour to meet her properly, even if it was under pretty awful circumstances.

Paige suddenly snapped out of the trance she didn't remember getting into and looked at her sisters who were still yelling at the Elders.

Piper grumpily put her hands on her hips. "You better get down here. I want to see your pathetic excuse for this one: '_Had to watch out for non existent, possible future Elders_' She mimicked. _'Played an imaginary game of chess with the god of gods?_' '_Didn't foresee anything possibly relevant or important in our futures before it got to us and caused deaths, destruction, pain and sever physical injury?_'" she mocked.

Paige's eyes widened at her sister's fury. "Piper ease off!" She said from the table with a shocked expression.

"No I will not! Because what do they actually do other than wear massive robes to kid themselves that they're actually important and sit on their asses all day?" She shouted, again passively directing it at the Elders.

With a gathering of golden and white lights, an Elder appeared in front of Piper and Phoebe. It was one they'd met before, a middle-aged woman with a blonde bob and friendly eyes.

She looked at Piper disapprovingly. "We get your message Miss Halliwell." She said calmly.

"I damn hope so." Piper said angrily. "I've been shouting for long enough."

"_I know._" The Elder said with pursed lips. "I also heard your message a few days ago." She said while facing Phoebe. Phoebe looked at the ground a little sheepishly. The Elder must have been regarding that first morning after, when Phoebe had screamed at the Elders from the top of her lungs.

And then the woman turned and faced Paige. "And I heard your message too." She said with more remorse.

"What do you mean?" Paige responded with a confused expression. "I never said anything to you."

"I know. But all Elders have small amounts of Empathic powers within them and we can feel how disappointed you are with us."

Paige simply nodded, not responding. She was not going to say to the Elder that 'it was okay' or 'don't to worry about it' just clear their own guilty consciences because it wasn't fair. The Elders had screwed her over, so they could suffer any consequences that they may face for it.

"Miss Matthews, We are not seeking your forgiveness but I would like to say on behalf of all the Elders that there was really nothing we could do."

"Oh here we go." Piper rolled her eyes.

The Elder ignored her remark and continued to speak. "As Elders, We are not to interfere with anything that is non magical or non demonic. Reversing time causes a lot more problems than it solves. The cleaners cannot reverse something as complicated or as painful as this, I hate to say. Trust me Miss Matthews, we have been trying our best to reverse, edit or alter that night. But it is just not possible. We did what we could. We allowed your mother to return in order to console you and we allowed Prue to return to see you all and care for you, which broke pretty much every magical law that has ever existed. What I am trying to say to you, Paige. Is that we really have been trying hard to resolve all of your pain, just with little success."

Paige nodded, taking it all in. After a moment she leaned to the side of the Elder so that she could see Piper. "Satisfied?" She asked her sister.

"Yes. I am actually." Piper responded.

"Phoebe?" Paige asked.

"I suppose so." She responded with a bit of hesitation. "But you are not to stop trying." Phoebe pointed sternly at the Elder. "Even if you cannot reverse the incident, I want you to do anything in your will to make Paige feel better. Is that clear?" Phoebe asked.

"Crystal." The Elder responded before orbing away in a flash of bright golden lights.


	9. Chapter 9

AN: Warning: There are some fairly graphic descriptions in this chapter, but don't worry there is nothing that is capable of disturbing anybody or anything that bad. It's fairly brief, just a warning. And while I'm here I'd like to thank you for your support and kind reviews, they are very much appreciated and I take all of your suggestions into consideration.

* * *

><p>The following day, Piper and Paige were sat on the couch acting like they were both interested in the documentary about dolphins that was on the TV.<p>

Phoebe had gone into the kitchen to get three glasses of water for them all.

She put them on a little tray she had found and proceeded to walk into the living room.

She saw her sisters slumped against the couch staring numbly at the tv and sighed with a smile. She picked up one of the glasses and passed it to Piper.

Piper looked up and thanked her. She then passed the second glass to Paige, but before Paige had been given the chance to seize it properly, their fingers gently touched and Phoebe went into a deep premonition, letting go of the glass of water, letting it smash against floor.

Phoebe was physically pushed back with the force of the premonition.

It hit her like a wave. It was a premonition from the past. She could see a dark room and all she could feel was an immense amount of pain and fear. She could see the revolting man from the store in front of her and there was a smaller, thinner man next to him. She could hear Paige screaming at them. Screeching in agony. Whenever she screamed particularly loud, one of them would punch her hard in the chest or neck. She was shaking violently and her arms were bound around her back.

Phoebe could see her face, covered in dirt, tears and the blood from her bust lip. In the state she was in, it was a wonder that she was actually still alive.

The larger man thrust towards her with force and Phoebe turned her head away in horror, there were tears spilling down her own cheeks just at the sight.

Paige let out a blood curdling scream and the thinner man hit her hard in the eye. Her head crashed against the wall and then drooped down with unconsciousness. Phoebe screamed in horror, but the men didn't turn around as they could not hear her.

Suddenly Phoebe was brought back to the real world. She screamed and fell back onto the floor in shock, her arms and legs shaking in response.

Piper and Paige both ran over to her.

"Phoebe! What did you see?" Piper asked with worry.

Paige didn't ask, with one look at Phoebe, she already knew.

Phoebe wiped away some of the tears that had rolled onto her cheeks.

Piper stared at her in shock, waiting for an answer. Phoebe didn't reply, she just simply stared at Paige in the most sorrowful way.

Paige returned her gaze with a desolate expression.

"Paige." Phoebe cried. She stood up and then held Paige tightly. "That was so awful." Phoebe cried into her neck.

"I'm sorry you had to see it." Paige simply replied.

"No-no don't apologise. That's ridiculous. I got a 4 second preview, you lived it." Phoebe stammered.

Paige pulled away and shrugged.

Phoebe stared at her with a shocked face. "Sweetheart that was one week ago. One week. This is not right. Why are we back to normal. It's not right. I think you've buried this. We forgot how bad it was. So have you. You can't do that Paige." Phoebe said with shock.

"Imagine the worst nightmare you've ever had then times it by ten. Then live it so it can never be forgotten. Then try and get past it so you don't feel so horrific that you just want to rip your skin off. Phoebe I just can't think about it. I can't handle anymore." Paige said with tears running down her cheeks.

Piper watched them both in shock, her eyes also filling with tears.

"I'm- I'm gonna go and sit in my room. I need some time alone." Paige turned around and left the room

"Paige." Phoebe called weakly.

"Let her go sweetie. She needs some space." Piper said while comforting her sister.

Tears spilled through Phoebe's eyelashes as she nodded defeatedly.

"Pipe- the premonition- it was so bad. I wanted to be sick. I-I don't know how she's okay right now. It was so horrific. She must see it every day. Remember it. Remember how she felt. I don't get it Piper." Phoebe cried, her voice going high with emotion. "How does she act so normal? How does she say that she feels okay? I don't get it. If she feels the way I feel that she does, how can she mask all that pain with a smile."

Piper crossed her arms and quickly wiped away a tear that had escaped onto her cheek. Her sisters were both in pain and that hurt her.

Piper sighed. "Some people are very good at hiding their pain, not matter how big it is. And I think Paige is one if them."

"But I hate that. We know how she feels yet we can't help her." Phoebe wiped away a tear.

"Phoebe, what exactly did you see in the premonition?" Piper asked reluctantly.

"It was a dark room covered in damp and there wasn't any furniture. They kept hitting her Piper." Phoebe said, her voice going high with tears again. "One of them started to rape her and she screeched so loud and then the other slammed his fist into her eye. She still has that bruise Piper and now we know how she got it." Phoebe cried.

Piper put her hand over her mouth. "The thought of someone doing that to her just horrifies me." Piper declared. "She's our little sister." She said wiping away a couple more tears.

"You know, I know what she said but I want to talk to her. I'll give her space later. Just not right now." Phoebe said before turning around, walking through the hall and running up the stairs.

She walked swiftly across the upstairs landing and paused outside Paige's door.

She opened it slowly and walked in. "Paige I want to talk to you."

Paige was sat on the armchair in her room with her knees up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. She looked up at Phoebe. Her eyes were wet and swollen, she'd obviously been crying since she got up there.

"Oh Paige, sweetheart." Phoebe said sadly while walking over to her. She leaned forwards and tucked a strand of hair behind Paige's ear. Paige looked at her with large sorrowful eyes.

"Come here baby." Phoebe said as she outstretched a hand to her sister.

Paige unfolded her legs and took her hand, standing up. Phoebe walked over to Paige's bed and gestured for Paige to sit down. Paige got onto the bed and put her legs under the covers.

Phoebe sat down on the bed next to her. "Come here sweetheart." Paige leaned forwards into her open arms. They held each other tightly.

"I love you Phoebes." Paige whispered into her neck.

"I love you too honey." Phoebe responded, stroking her hair. Phoebe pulled away but kept one hand around Paige's jaw. She looked at her younger sister sadly.

"I'm sorry they did that Paige." She said with tears in her voice. "I wish I could reverse time and give you a knife so that you could stab them to death. It-it would be self defence."

Paige looked at her gratefully for the gesture. Without saying another word, she lay down on her side and rested her head onto Phoebe's lap.

Phoebe played with the strands of Paige's hair that she could reach. "Paige I'm sorry for telling you how to feel. You should be allowed to cope with this any way you want to."

Paige turned her head to look at her. "It's okay. You're just trying to help. I can see how much this is hurting you and Piper too." She responded quietly. She felt shy and her throat hurt from crying.

Paige turned her head back so it was facing away from Phoebe again. "What-what did she see in your premonition?" She stammered, she was frightened to hear it but she wanted to know.

"Are you sure sweetheart?" Phoebe asked cautiously.

Paige nodded on her lap.

"I don't think I should tell you. Do you promise you're okay with me saying?"

She nodded again. "Tell me exactly what you saw. Word for word."

"Okay baby, if you want. - I saw you in a dark, damp room and thee were two guys wearing black. I recognised one from the store. They k-kept slapping you and then one of them..." She paused really uncomfortably and tears came to her eyes. "One of them... thrust into you and you screamed really loud and then the other guy punched you hard in the eye for screaming." Phoebe said, shaking at the memory.

Paige swallowed. "That was right at the start. It got so much worse." A tear rolled down her cheek.

Phoebe wiped the tear away with her thumb and gently circled the brown rim below Paige's eye.

"Are you still in any pain?" Phoebe asked worriedly.

"No, not really. Just the bruises that are still blue. They hurt whenever anything comes into contact with them. But I'm still taking mom's potions and they are very effective." She responded from Paige's lap.

"It was nice if her to make those." Phoebe responded.

"Yes. It was"

"How are you feeling now?"

"I just feel scared Phoebe. So scared, all the time."

"You know you're safe with us? We love you so much and nothing's going to happen to you while you're in our care." Phoebe replied, stroking her hair again.

"But I can't be in your care forever. I have to leave the house at some point. That's what I'm afraid of."

"Well no one's asking you to do that today. When you're ready again, we'll tackle that as it comes to us, okay?" Phoebe asked.

"Yeah. Thank you."

"It's fine honey." Phoebe said as she stroked her sister's cheek gently with the back of her hand.

At that moment, Piper slowly opened the door. "Hey." She said to them quietly.

She walked over to Paige on the bed and sat down in front of where she was lying. "How are you doing sweetie?" She asked while picking up Paige's hand and holding it in her own.

"I'm... okay." Paige responded. The sad look on her eyes and her puffy eyes said otherwise.

"Phoebe are you okay?" Piper asked looking at her other younger sister with concern.

"I'm fine." Phoebe responded though she had wet eyes also.

Piper looked at them both with an unimpressed expression. She got off from the bed and walked around the room to the other side. She sat down properly under the covers next to Phoebe and lifted Paige's legs over hers so that they were all comfortable.

"Right, to begin with, you both need to start to be more honest. You both look pretty devastated. So 'fine' and 'okay' aren't the most convincing answers."

"I'm sorry it's just easier to say 'fine.' Paige responded from Phoebe's lap.

"I know it is sweetheart." Piper replied while giving Paige's ankle a gentle squeeze. "But that's not going to make you feel any better is it?"

Paige sighed and shook her head. Paige then closed her eyes for a moment and a large tear rolled down her cheek. Due to the angle they were in, neither Piper nor Phoebe could see it.

They did notice however when Paige started crying more intensively and her shoulders began going up and down slightly.

"Paige?" Piper asked, leaning forwards to try and look at her.

Paige shook her head and looked away the best she could in her position. She wrapped both her hands around Phoebe's kneecap and held on tightly.

Phoebe leaned down and kissed Paige's forehead and a few tears began roll down her cheeks too. Phoebe hadn't stopped reciting that awful premonition in her head since it she'd seen it and seeing Paige crying made it all too real.

Phoebe and Paige cried silently on the bed. Piper rubbed Paige's calves as they did so. She felt so incapable to do anything to help. Also she would have comforted Phoebe too but she was too far away to reach her.

"I can't do this." Phoebe sobbed. "This is too much. She's too hurt Pipe." She cried. Paige held onto her legs tightly

"It's awful, I know, but you are both going to feel better in a while. Phoebe I'm sure you'll feel much happier when Paige is doing better. It just takes time." Piper responded dismally. She felt so useless and unable to help. This whole thing broke her heart too but she wanted to be strong, not only for Paige but for Phoebe too. She thought they needed at least one fairly mentally stable person in the Halliwell Manor. But she could only hold it together for so long. Everybody had limits.

Piper wiped away a tear and looked at her sisters. Paige had turned over and was heavily crying into Phoebe's stomach and Phoebe was leaning over her with tears on her cheeks.

There was so much pain, Piper felt overwhelmed with distraught. She didn't know what to do.


	10. Chapter 10

_Piper wiped away a tear and looked at her sisters. Paige had turned over and was heavily crying into Phoebe's stomach and Phoebe was leaning over her with tears on her cheeks._

_There was so much pain, Piper felt overwhelmed with distraught. She didn't know what to do. _

* * *

><p>Piper looked up. "Help us, please." She said. Her voice barely a whisper.<p>

Suddenly a flash of pale blue orbs appeared. "For gods sake!" Patty Halliwell screamed, facing away from them. "Just let me see them!" She shouted. She suddenly paused and spun around. "Oh." She looked at her awe struck daughters. "- they let me." She muttered in amazement. She had tears in her eyes and her chest was heaving like she had been shouting a lot.

"Mom." Piper smiled.

"I'm sorry- I would've come sooner- but I had a little trouble persuading the Elders... As you can probably tell." She smiled. Paige looked up and watched her silently.

Suddenly another set of pale blue orbs appeared and Prue appeared, again facing away. "You son of a bitch!" She shouted before spinning around and gasping in shock. "Oh my god. They orbed me!" She said happily. She ran forward and got onto the bed, instantly hugging Piper. She then leaned across and hugged Phoebe tightly. Afterwards she leaned down to where Paige was lying, stroked her hair and kissed her on the forehead.

Patty watched in shock. "Prue? How did you get here?" She asked.

"I've been screaming at my own personal Elder..." She sighed. "They're stubborn bastards." She muttered.

"Prue! Language." Patty scolded before going and sitting on the bed they were all sharing.

"Sweetheart." She stroked Paige's hair. "Come here honey." Patty said, opening her arms. Phoebe helped pull her sit up and Paige shuffled over so that she was enveloped in her mother's arms. Paige was still hysterical. She had tears coming out of her eyes that she couldn't even control anymore and she felt sick to her stomach. Hearing what Phoebe had seen brought it all back to her, she couldn't remember it all second by second and it was too much for her to handle.

"Come on Paige, I think you're going to have a panic attack. Let's get you into Phoebe's bedroom, it's just next door. Paige nodded through tears and tried to get off the bed. Patty held her wrists and supported her as she got up but as soon as Paige's legs were properly on the ground they felt weak and she wobbled.

The intensity of her emotions no longer just took over her head or heart, they controlled her whole body.

Piper, Phoebe and Prue all watched from the bed, they all considered getting up and helping Paige but they thought their mother had it covered.

"Okay honey." Patty said moving her hands from Paige's wrists to her hips to stable her. "You're so wobbly sweetheart."

Paige was suddenly convinced that she was going to fall and she sat down on the edge of the bed in defeat.

Piper got off the bed and joined her mother and Paige. "C'mon honey." She said to Paige. She put her arm around Paige's waist and pulled her up to standing. Patty rushed to her other side and wrapped her arm around her waist. Paige put her arms over their shoulders and with the joint effort they walked through the hall and all sat down on Phoebe's bed.

"I'll give you two some time alone." Piper said as she stood up and left them alone in the quiet room.

Patty got under the covers of the bed and beckoned her daughter towards her. Paige moved over to her and sat next to her a little awkwardly.

"No sweetie, you need a proper 'mom hug' come here." Patty put her legs out straight and beckoned her to sit on her lap. Paige sat down there sideways, leaning her side against Patty. Her mother wrapped her arms around her stomach and pulled her close. After a moment of hesitation, Paige relaxed into her.

"Told you." Patty smiled. "Feels good doesn't it?"

Paige nodded and gave her a weak smile.

"You've been holding these feeling in for days haven't you." Her mother asked her.

"Yes." Paige responded quietly. "I-I just wanted to feel better." She said with a high voice. "I thought if I completely ignored it then things would go back to normal. The way they used to be." She said with her head leaned back against her mother's shoulder.

"Oh baby." Patty said sadly. Paige twisted her head to look at her though she didn't get much success as she was too close. Patty responded by kissing her hair.

"What set it off?"

Paige swallowed loudly. She wasn't going to enjoy saying this. "Two reasons." She began incredibly uncomfortably. "This morning, Phoebe and I went to the store and he was there. One of the men who raped me. It wasn't just that. He saw me and I freaked out. He started taunting us, doing a stupid stepping thing. Then he lunged at me and I managed to orb myself and Phoebe back to the manor. Phoebe was really freaked out too, I collapsed from the shock but they managed to wake me up. And then- later on today, Phoebe tried to hand me a glass of water and she got a premonition mom."

"Oh my god. What of?" Patricia asked with concern.

"She got a premonition of what happened to me that night." Paige said with a nasty chill running down her spine.

"Oh my god." Patty said worriedly. "No wonder you're all in such a state, that sounds like the most horrific day."

Paige simply nodded and a couple of tears escaped from her eyes again. She soon closed her eyes and exhaustion took her into a deep sleep.

* * *

><p>The sun rose through San Francisco and all four sisters and their mother were asleep in the manor.<p>

Paige opened her eyes slowly and looked around. She was in Phoebe's room and her mother was fast asleep in the bed next to her. She rubbed her eyes and winced slightly as they were still sore from crying to much the night before.

She stretched and got up from the bed, walked around the room and out of the door. She stepped down the hall and opened the door to her own room.

All three were fast asleep. Prue was sat up in the double bed with her head leaning back against the wall, Phoebe was sat on on her lap, leaning against her chest and Piper was sat on a chair beside the bed, no blanket on her, nothing.

The three of them had obviously been talking for hours into the night and then just fallen asleep in their positions.

Paige leaned back and rested her back on the doorway. At that moment, Prue suddenly fluttered her eyelids open. She looked around the room and then rested her eyes on Paige.

"Hey sweetie." Prue said quietly.

"Hey." Paige replied, equally quiet.

"How are you holding up? You had a pretty shaky day yesterday." Prue asked with care.

"I'm-I'm okay."

"That's good." Prue responded. "Why don't I get this one off me and then we can go and make some breakfast?" She gestured at Phoebe.

"Sure." Paige responded. Prue carefully manoeuvred Phoebe off from her lap and onto the bed. Phoebe groaned but soon fell back asleep on the bed.

Prue stood up and stretched. She was still wearing her clothes from the day before. She looked over at Piper asleep on the chair. "Ooh she's gonna have a bad back when she wakes up."

Prue walked across the room and picked up a blanket before placing it onto Piper. She carefully ran her fingers through Piper's hair before walked over to Paige.

Paige smiled at the gesture. Prue was so careful and kind with Piper and Paige, it was really beautiful to Paige.

They walked into the hall. "You really miss them don't you?" Paige said sadly.

"More than anything." Prue looked at the ground as they walked. "And in a different way I miss you too."

"What do you mean?" Paige asked as they walked down the staircase.

"I miss that I never got to grow up with you or have girly chats with you. I miss that we never got to spend time together. You know, go shopping, go out for lunch, that kind of thing."

Paige looked at her with love. "I miss that too. I guess we have a small chance to make up for some of that right now. You're with us, even if it's for a short amount of time, that's okay with me." She gave her a small smile. Prue smiled back.

They walked into the kitchen. Prue stopped still and touched Paige's arm for a second. It was a simple gesture. It was a start.

"Now are you thinking eggs? Because I was." Prue asked.

"Yeah, sure." Paige nodded, getting some out and collecting other things they'd need to make breakfast for everyone.

* * *

><p>Piper woke up and squinted at the bright sunlight shining through the window.<p>

"Phoebe, wake up." She said, picking up a cushion and throwing it in Phoebe's direction.

Phoebe groaned and rolled over. "Is Prue still here?" She muttered into the pillow.

"I don't know honey." Piper responded, why don't we go and see?" She suggested.

"Okay." Phoebe stood up, she was still half asleep.

Piper stood up and groaned. "Ugh my legs are so stiff."

"Serves you right for sleeping on a chair." Phoebe winked.

"It wasn't my fault, we just all fell asleep. We were talking for hours and hours."

"I know. I'm pretty sure I fell asleep on top of Prue. That can't have been too comfortable for her."

They both walked into the hall and knocked on Paige's bedroom door.

"Yes?" Patty greeted them from inside the room. They walked in and their mother was fully dressed in clean clothes and tidying the room.

"Where did you get the clothes?" Phone asked with confusion.

"I found them in a box in the attic. Today I'm actually grateful that you never clear that old room out."

"Is Prue still here?" Piper asked.

"Yes. I believe she is downstairs making breakfast with Paige." She replied.

"Did Paige sleep okay?" Phoebe asked.

"I think so." Patty replied. "She was gone when I woke up. I could hear them chatting downstairs."

Phoebe nodded and turned to go downstairs.

* * *

><p>Half an hour later, everyone was sat down at the table eating breakfast.<p>

Piper picked up the newspaper and began to read it. "Oh my god." Piper exclaimed.

"What's up?" Prue asked, the other looked up at her. Piper turned the front page of the newspaper around so that everyone could see what she read.

_Man arrested for multiple rapes and one murder_.

Paige gasped at the picture on the front page. It was a slimy grin she knew all too well...

"Paige is that the other man?" Phoebe asked worriedly.

Paige nodded in shock. On the front page of the newspaper was a photograph of the man no one else had so far seen.

"You've got to tell them what happened. It would add to his charge." Prue said urgently.

"I will be satisfied enough if he gets a long sentence from the other crimes he's committed." Paige responded quietly.

"No!" Piper shouted. "You're going to make them fully aware of what he did to you!" She said angrily. "We've all said since the beginning that we wanted to throw those sick bastards in jail more than anything. Now you actually have the chance."

Phoebe rested her hand on Paige's wrist in an attempt to give her comfort. "Sweetie it wouldn't be public, It would be pretty anonymous and you would just have to appear in court for one day. Just tell them what he did."

"What's the point. The other guy will still be out there to taunt me."

"Not if you tell them what he did. The police are probably aware of the other man, the two of them have probably worked together before. This would be enough to throw them both in jail." Prue told her youngest sister.

Paige looked uncomfortably at the table. "I don't want to see them. Not now. Not ever."

"What about one day and the guarantee that they will be punished for what they did to you." Phoebe spoke.

Patricia watched her four daughters at the table. She couldn't be more proud of any of them. They cared for each other in a way that was remarkable to watch.

She looked up at Paige who seemed to be having an internal argument. "Paige they're right. You can sort this. Paige I think this will give you the closure you so desperately need."

Paige stood up and strode out of the room. Then all watched the doorway that she'd walked through. Five minutes later she re-emerged fully dressed, carrying a handbag. They watched as she walked through the hallway at a fast pace.

"Paige wait!" Prue shouted after her. The slam of the front door came as a reply. Prue grabbed a jacket and ran after Paige.

"Piper, Phoebe and their mother all stared in each other in wonder.

"Should we go after them?" Phoebe asked her mother.

"No sweetheart. I think she wanted some space."

Piper looked down at the newspaper. She stared at the man on the front for a moment before turning the newspaper over in disgust.

* * *

><p>It had been four hours since Paige and Prue had left and Phoebe and Piper had been pacing for over an hour. The longer they were gone, the more nervous they became.<p>

"What if something happened? What if they bumped into the other man that I and Paige saw yesterday?" Phoebe said worriedly.

"That's very unlikely. I feel nervous anyway though." Piper sighed, putting her hand on her forehead.

Just then, Paige and Prue burst through the door.

"Thank god." Phoebe surged forwards, hugging Paige tightly.

Once she'd pulled away, Paige spoke. "It's done."

"What is?" Piper asked.

"I did what you told me to do. It's done. It was awful and I'd like to rest now. I'm tired." She said grumpily and walked straight past their astonished faces and up the stairs.

Piper watched her walk up the stairs before turning back to face Prue. "What happened?" She asked.

"She went and told them what he did. They made her recall it word for word. It was really hard to hear. She got pretty upset but it's done now."

"I thought they didn't believe people straight away." Piper responded. Phoebe crossed her arms and listened.

"Apparently they were already aware that he'd sexually assaulted someone else also they just hadn't had anyone come forward. All they needed was for her to tell them what happened, she just had to take a sample of her DNA afterwards and they were done."

"Oh my god is she okay?" Piper asked. "Did she manage to tell them everything?"

"I personally heard enough to be scarred so I'm sure that's enough for them. When you hear it like that you just can't imagine how she gets up and smiles at us everyday, or talks to us about normal things."

Phoebe looked at Prue. "What's amazing is that she still does. She could have gone two ways after that happened. She could have become a broken shell that shut us out and eventually killed herself or she could have coped with it properly and receive support from her family. Luckily, something inside her chose the latter.

Piper nodded. "I can't even imagine what we would have done if they'd killed her. If she hadn't made it back when she did. Two dead sisters would be enough to personally push me over the edge."

Prue winced at her comment.

Piper looked at her apologetically. "I'm sorry Prue."

"It's fine. It's been years. I should have gotten over my own death by now but I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't."

"It's normal. Who can actually come to terms with fact that they died? It's crazy." Phoebe replied.

Prue shrugged. "I'm proud of Paige for what she did today. It took a lot of guts."

"Agreed." Phoebe nodded.

"I just can't believe she did that. I thought she just went out for some or something. I'll be honest; I didn't think she was going to go to them. She seemed petrified by the idea. I don't blame her." Piper responded.

"She's so brave." Phoebe muttered. "I know what she said about being alone but I'm gonna go and check on her. Just for a minute. I'm not going to bother her."

"Okay Phoebes." Piper responded.

Phoebe nodded and jogged up the stairs. She walked across the hall and stopped in front of Paige's ajar door.

She opened it slowly and looked inside. Paige was in her bed fast asleep. Phoebe walked over to the side of the bed that she was sleeping on and perched next to her on the bed.

She stroked Paige's cheek softly. "You got guts, girl. I'll give you that." Phoebe whispered with a smile. "I hope you're okay. We don't really know if you are at the moment. It's quite hard to tell. I told them I wouldn't bother you so I'm not staying for long." She whispered. "I just wanted to tell you that you did the right thing- and we love you a lot Paige. That's all." She leaned down and kissed her forehead briefly before getting and leaving the room without a sound.


	11. Chapter 11

Final Chapter. A bit more cheerful. Hope you enjoy.

* * *

><p>"Paige! Paige!" Phoebe shouted, running into the manor.<p>

Paige emerged from the living room. "What is it?" She asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes. A few days had passed and it was a mid Tuesday morning. Paige had only just woken up and wondered downstairs. She was still wearing her vest top and pyjama pants.

"You did it!" Phoebe jumped up. "You did it Paige!" She said gleefully. Her brunette hair was swept up into a sweet ponytail and she was wearing a crimson summery dress along with a short jean jacket. She looked nice.

"What are you talking about?" Paige asked her with a confused expression. Phoebe had the biggest grin on her face and she didn't understand why.

"I just went down to the police station to ask about your case and those bastards. They said down there that they managed to catch the other guy that raped you just before he left the state and that they've got him in a cell. The other guy who we saw in the store had his trial yesterday and he got sentenced thirty-five years Paige! This isn't the first time he's committed a serious crime and they've been trying to catch him for ages. He's locked up for good. You are never going to have to see that son-of-a-bitch again." She said with a serious yet excited tone.

Paige raised her eyebrows in shock. "That's so amazing, but what-what about the other guy?" She asked a little worriedly. She felt like she couldn't breathe out just yet.

"He hasn't been trialled yet but they said down at the station that he was looking at a similar sentence! He goes on trial today. And he's guaranteed to get at least twenty five years but they think it could be more." She leaned forwards and hugged Paige.

Paige was taken aback. It was finally over. She didn't have to feel permanently anxious and sleep with one eye open anymore. It. Was. Finally. Over. She couldn't believe it. She hugged Phoebe back tightly with relief.

"I-I can't believe it." She said in shock. "Do you mean it? You're sure?" She asked, seeking confirmation. She needed to be sure.

"Yes." Phoebe laughed happily. "It's finally over. You're safe. They are never ever going to touch you again, sweetheart. They weren't anyway but it's physically impossible now. I feel so happy. You can finally get some closure, baby sister." She smiled. She pulled away and held Paige's cheeks. "I'm so proud of you Paige. Words just can't describe how proud of you I am." She kissed her younger sister on the cheek.

Paige gave a humble smile. "I think they just did. Thank you."

"I still can't believe you told them." She smiled.

"I felt so much better after telling them. It didn't have to be a secret any more. I didn't have to feel guilty. If I'd known how much what I said would've had an impact before, I would have done it much sooner."

"I know sweetie, but what's important is that you did and that was an amazing thing. You're amazing." Phoebe smiled at her fondly. "I love you." She hugged Paige again.

"I love you too Pheebs. You're so perfect. I can't believe how lucky I am to have you as a sister." She hugged Phoebe tightly.

"Well vice versa." Phoebe smiled and kissed her on the cheek again. "Speaking of sisters, where's Piper? She needs to hear this." She asked. She walked over to the bottom of the staircase. "Piper?" She shouted loudly.

Piper jogged down the stairs and smiled happily at her sisters. "You two look awfully happy, are you up to something?" She smiled. "Why did you call me down?" She enquired.

"I need to tell you something amazing." Phoebe smiled, resting her hand on Paige's shoulder and squeezing it.

Piper nodded with a curious smile. "Go on…" She prompted her younger sister.

"Because of Paige's help, they're in jail Pipe!" Phoebe beamed. "The first man got thirty five years! And the second is being trialled today with an estimated similar sentence, they caught them both!" Phoebe grinned. "Can you believe it?"

"Oh-oh my god." Piper said in shock. "I can't believe it. That's amazing." She smiled at Paige who still seemed to absorbing the information. "Are you happy?" She asked her sister.

Paige looked at her with her eyes wide. "Yes, of course. I'm just in shock, that's all. I never imagined it ending this way."

Piper nodded, leaned forwards and held Paige tightly. Paige hugged her back and rested her head on her shoulder peacefully. Phoebe watched them happily. They hugged for a moment and once they'd pulled away, Piper had tears in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Paige asked with concern.

"I'm just so happy for you. I'm so happy that this is finally over, baby. I just wanted for so long for of your pain to stop and for you to get some justice over what happened. So I'm amazed, I didn't think there was going to be any justice for what they did to you, but there is and it's amazing." She said with a couple of tears escaping onto her cheeks.

Paige nodded, understanding. "I know. I'm happy too." She said quietly. She leaned forwards and hugged Piper once again.

Piper seemed grateful and held her tightly. "I love you Paige." She looked up at Phoebe from her shoulder. "And I love you too Phoebe. Come here." She beckoned her younger sister towards her. Phoebe stepped forwards and joined the hug. She looked at Piper and wiped the tears from her sister's cheeks.

"Hey, why are you crying so much?" Phoebe asked her sadly. Paige looked up at her elder sister. Her eyes were glassy and her cheeks were wet.

"I'm just so proud of her." She looked at Paige. "And I'm so proud of us as a family." She whispered. "We did it. We got through this. I was so, so scared that we wouldn't but with everyone's support, alive _and _dead, we got through this. Phoebe you cared for her so well. You were so amazing; you gave her everything she needed. I'm so lucky to have you two as sisters. We're lucky to have each other." She said to them both with her arms around them.

Paige looked at her with tears in her eyes. "We're lucky to have you too Piper."

"I guess we really are the power of three." Phoebe smiled. Paige smiled at Piper who nodded in response. Both Piper and Phoebe leaned forwards and kissed either side of Paige's cheeks.

"Yes we are." Paige and Piper responded together with loving smiles.

* * *

><p>It was short, I apologize for that, but I feel like it was short and sweet, which is always nice. Thanks for reading this fic and your lovely reviews and support. Feel free tp tell me what you thought of the fic as a whole, or any opinions etc. They are always welcome:)<p> 


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